Comets win NEC soccer championship
By Greg Seubert
It had been five years since the Waupaca boys’ soccer team won a North Eastern Conference championship.
The Comets shared the 2016 title with Fox Valley Lutheran after each team posted a 6-1 record in conference games.
This year, the Comets have the championship to itself, as Waupaca wrapped up North Eastern play Oct. 5 with a 10-0 win over Denmark at Comet Field.
Eight players found the net for Waupaca, as the Comets scored five goals in each half.
Max Gusmer opened the scoring 10 minutes into the game off of an assist from Iversin Polebitski. Polebitski then assisted on Ryan Drivas’ goal 35 seconds later.
Riley Wahler gave Waupaca a 3-0 lead in the 14th minute, with Gusmer making the first of his four assists in the game.
Hesslin Trzebiatowski added goals off of assists from Gusmer and Sawyer Mielke and Waupaca had a 5-0 lead at the break.
Jacob Feil scored 23 seconds into the second half off of another Gusmer assist and Feil scored again nine minutes later off of an assist from Ryan Mace to make it 7-0.
Waupaca added three more goals from Alex Gusmer, Michael Wennesberg and Adrian Bustamante off of assists from Drivas, Alex Gusmer and Max Gusmer before the game ended midway through the second half on the 10-goal rule.
The Comets will close out the regular season with a pair of nonconference games at Comet Field. Waupaca will host Amherst Tuesday, Oct. 12, before Shawano heads to Waupaca Thursday, Oct. 14. Both games will start at 6:30 p.m.
The WIAA state tournament begins with regionals on Tuesday, Oct. 19. The Comets will compete in Division 3 in a sectional bracket that also includes Antigo, Ashland, Lakeland, Medford, Mosinee, New London, Rhinelander and Shawano.