With the Class 2 District 9 Tournament nearing, Warrenton Soccer Coach John Schulte has been pleased to see noticeable progress from his team over the past week.The Warriors split their most recent matches, beating Barat 3-2 last Thursday before falling to Union 2-1 on Tuesday.They will actually face that same Union team in the first round of districts on Monday at 7 p.m.“I think it’s going to be a battle,” said Schulte. “We know their style of play, and we’re going to work on that later this week.”He says the Warriors will need to be more offensive-minded, as the pressure has been on the defense lately. With leading scorer Dillen Mayfield out permanently with an injury, others have been required to step up and Schulte has been pleased with the effort.Michael Eskew has scored a goal in each of the last two games, while senior Luke Hawley has been asked to play all over the field.On Tuesday, the Warriors also had to battle rainy weather conditions, which Schulte says made it too difficult to maintain control. It even complicated matters for goalkeeper Sawyer Junker.“With gloves being wet, it was really hard for him to get that deflection,” said Schulte. “They were able to hit off his arms and hands and shots trickled into the post.”Eskew netted an assist from Adam Staley about 20 minutes into the game, and the Warriors were locked in a 1-1 tie at halftime.The Warriors had more opportunities to score in the final 40 minutes but were unable to connect.“The second half was a lot better than the first,” said Schulte. “We changed up our formation and attacked a lot more. We had a bunch of good crosses.”Warrenton also exhibited a strong finish in the Barat game, needing a goal with under 30 seconds left to escape a stressful situation.“We came out and were flat against them in the beginning,” explained Schulte. “They hit a long ball on us and outran to get a shot on a breakaway to score.”Some adjustments, including shifting Hawley up to, paid off for the Warriors during the second half.“He was able to make some great moves and dribble around several players to bury the ball in the goal,” said Schulte.Austin Nicholas also scored for the Warriors.Leading 2-1 late in the contest, Schulte says his team became complacent.“We felt safe with the lead, and they started pressuring us,” said Schulte.With 1:00 left in the contest, Barat scored the tying goal.“It was pretty exciting last minute of the game,” said Schulte. “The emotions were all over the place at that point.”Stricken with a sense of urgency, the Warriors desperate attempt to end the game in regulation was successful.“We played ball down the wing into box,” recalled Schulte. “Eskew was running and hit the ball hit off a guy and came back to him. He was able to float it over the goalie’s head and into the net.”HEITGERD CONTROLSBill Barrett Photo.