Meeting helps 'Dogs find chemistry

FENTON, Mo. -- Notre Dame forward Brock Dirnberger felt a good deal of pressure at the beginning of this season.

He was taking over one of the two forward positions vacated by the graduation of his cousin, Abe Dirnberger, and Jack Wedemeier, two of the top offensive players on the Bulldogs' Class 2 state title team of a year ago. Wedemeier set a school record with 30 goals in one season.

Brock Dirnberger said the pressure did not diminish much as the fall progressed and the offense was not playing as well as it had last fall, and the team as a whole was not seeing the same results. He said he and forward Ty Williams, who started last year and played with Wedemeier and Abe Dirnberger almost his entire career, were having some trouble getting used to each other.

"We didn't have it at the beginning of the season, and we were both getting frustrated," Dirnberger said. "We didn't know what we were doing wrong and we just all sat down and talked about it. We had a team meeting. We all knew our potential but we weren't playing to it."

That team meeting happened Oct. 19.

Since then, the Bulldogs have posted a 5-1 record and have outscored their opponents 11-2.

The Bulldogs' latest win -- a 3-1 decision over Duchesne on Friday evening -- propelled them into their second straight Class 2 title game. They look to repeat as champs when they play Smithville today at noon.

And Dirnberger has been playing better since the team sat down and talked, too.

"We built some team chemistry in that meeting, and I think we really needed that," the junior forward said.

Dirnberger, who stands only 5-foot-5 and weighs 140 pounds, scored a goal in the semifinal win Friday. He now has 12 goals to go along with six assists, giving him 30 points. He is the second leading scorer for the Bulldogs, behind only Williams, who has 23 goals and six assists.

Williams scored a goal and recorded an assist Friday.

"I always wanted to play with Ty, but I never got the chance because Ty was always on varsity," Dirnberger said. "I always thought if they gave us time we'd have a good connection. People are starting to see it now that me and Ty are working together."

Williams added that he and Dirnberger have been playing well recently.

"It seems like every game we're getting there and getting a little bit better," Williams said. "We're working well together. He's played a lot better. He's great off the ball, he's a great dribbler, he has good vision and he's short but he can jump and get his head on the ball."

Dirnberger said his cousin Abe was at the game Friday, and he wanted to play well to show him how he has fit into his old spot. The younger Dirnberger said the transition to the varsity team has been difficult at times after scoring 25 goals last year on the junior varsity."It's definitely harder," he said. "I can't really dribble any more as much as I could on JV, and I can't beat three players. At most you can only beat one, so I've had to learn how to pass and use my team more."

Notre Dame coach Brad Wittenborn said: "Brock, probably more than anyone on the team, puts a lot of pressure on himself. He expects perfection.

"This is probably the least he's ever scored in his life at any level," Wittenborn added. "But he still had a very solid year scoring and passing."

The championship game

The Bulldogs will play for their second consecutive title today against Smithville.

The Warriors are a high-scoring team led by senior forward Zach Doolan, who had 35 goals and 21 assists heading into Friday.

Bulldogs senior Mark Himmelberg, who scored the game-winning goal in last year's title game, said his team is focused.

"It's nice to think about," Himmelberg said of last season. "But I can't dwell on that. We have a job to do here, and we're not done with it. We're halfway there, and I think with another performance like we had tonight, I think we can get it done."The Notre Dame coaches stayed after their own game to watch Smithville's 2-0 semifinal win over Cassville. The staff had not seen the Warriors play this year and videotaped the game.

"We're going to come out and try to possess the ball in the early going, get a feel for where we might attack and make adjustments in our attack as we go," Wittenborn said.