BOYS SOCCER: Broers reflects on season thus far with No. 8 Wildcats

Nodaway Valley sophomore Malachi Broers is the only player from his school on the West Central Valley/Nodaway Valley boys soccer team, but he’s having a ton of fun being a part of what his team is accomplishing this season.

The Wildcats are 13-1 on the season, ranked eighth in Class 1A, according to the latest standings. They narrowly missed suffering a second setback of the season in an entertaining double-overtime game last Friday, 4-3, at Treynor.

Broers, who has played soccer since he was very young, plays sparingly on the varsity squad, mostly seeing junior varsity minutes. He chooses soccer because he enjoys running but also likes competing directly with a team. Soccer affords him that opportunity.

Broers said he especially enjoyed following the varsity team’s win last week.

“[Last Friday] was a really intense game. It’s really fun to play with these guys, they’re just really talented players,” Broers said. “As a team, we’ve been working a lot on getting the ball to the outsides and crossing it in because a lot of teams tend to put their best players in the middle, so if we can get the ball out wide it gives us more scoring opportunities.”

Mitchell Dickson remains one of the best players in the state, and he plays for WCV/NV. The senior is tied for third in Class 1A with 31 goals. Sophomore Kameron Kunkle (17) and senior Matt Gerling (14) also have greater than 10 goals this season.

The Wildcats were set to start Class 1A postseason action Thursday in Stuart against Panorama. Win that, and they will host either Underwood or St. Albert Monday, May 23.

“We played Panora earlier in the season, and they’re just a very aggressive team,” Broers said. “It’ll be interesting.”