Windsor
After an 18-goal season a year ago and a Vermont Division III first-team selection, Walton had three goals and an assist as the Chieftains rolled to a 4-1 win over the Yellowjackets at MacLeay-Royce Field.
Walton reached last season’s goal total with Wednesday’s hat trick. And the season is only half over.
“He is one of the only players from out of the area that I let play in the summer,” said Lebanon High coach Rob Johnstone, who coaches with the Upper Valley Lightning in the summer and who was at Wednesday’s game. Johnstone teaches history at Windsor High School.
Walton’s talent was certainly no surprise to Windsor coach Andy Tufts: “Trust me, if I knew what to do to stop him, I would have.”
The humble Walton, despite the big offensive day, knows that he is not a one-man team, and the Chiefs record to 6-2 is the combination of a lot of things.
“We have a good group of guys here, and we get along great and we’re having a lot of fun,” he said.
“Soccer is everything to him,” Green Mountain coach Brian Rapanotti said. “Soccer is always on his mind. He’s a great basketball player, and this spring he’ll be the starting shortstop on the baseball team, even though he hasn’t played the sport since he was freshman. But he’s always thinking about soccer.”
And in the classroom? “He’s 4.0,” said his coach. “He’s a great kid. He listens and leads by example.”
It wasn’t like Windsor didn’t show up for the game. The Jacks may have lost for the sixth time in eight starts, but they were tough for a long time, trailing just 1-0 at the break.
“We left some goals out there,” Tufts said of first-half opportunities that were not converted. “I know it’s a cliche, but it’s about confidence. You have to learn how to win.”
Windsor keeper Ryan Saucier made some acrobatic saves during that first half, but he couldn’t stop them all. With 17 minutes left, he got just the fingertips on a hard Walton shot, and the Chiefs took a 1-0 lead. Prior to the score, he stoned Walton twice and took a scoring chance away from Justin Diak.
“He was keeping us in the game,” Tufts said.
Meanwhile, the Jacks gave Green Mountain keeper Keegan Ewald some things to think about.
The game was just a few seconds old when Isaac Robison took a pass and lofted a high shot that Ewald denied after losing his balance. Windsor had two quality chances shortly after that, the best belonging to Brandon Tillman, who caught Ewald out of position only to have GM defender Carver Provance swoop in to clear it away.
Windsor’s Hunter Grela also twice put Ewald to the test. Ewald blocked the first shot, the rebound going back to Grelam who fired again, only to have Ewald wrap his arms around the ball this time.
Green Mountain quickly took control of things early in the second half, Walton scoring on a breakaway and feeding Artum Shetzov for another score all in the first three minutes.
Walton later scored when he knocked in his own rebound to make it 4-0 before Windsor scored on a Jacob Curtis penalty kick.
Corner Kicks: A nasty first-half collision sent Provance to the hospital for stitches in his eyebrow. … The Chiefs ended with a 16-9 edge in shots on goal and 8-4 in corners. … Windsor goes to Proctor on Saturday.