Ready to Brock and roll: Evans gives QND soccer team boost in first action of season

QUINCY — Spending five consecutive games watching from the sideline with a tweaked back is not a scenario Brock Evans wants to revisit.

“It was awful,” said Evans, a senior midfielder who hadn’t played for the Quincy Notre Dame boys soccer team prior to Tuesday’s game against Hannibal. “Just the thought of it in my head after those games was tough. I’d go home and think back like, ‘If only I was out there.’

“Not being able to play with my teammates and have those memories with them on the field is really awful to be honest.”

The fact his back didn’t hurt after playing substantial minutes in the 5-0 victory at Advance Physical Therapy Field means he’ll have the chance to make more memories in the days and weeks ahead.

“My back is definitely way better,” Evans said. “It’s not sore after the game, so that’s good.”

It enabled him to take his smile home.

“It was honestly exciting,” Evans said of being back in the lineup. “The smile on my face was huge. I was so happy to be out playing again with the team.”

Scoring the game’s first goal made it perfect.

“As soon as I scored the first goal, I made eye contact with all my teammates and the smiles on their faces were absolutely huge,” Evans said. “They were saying, ‘He’s back. He’s finally back.’ It was just really fun.”

It was the jolt the Raiders (5-1) needed.

Hannibal (0-2) aggressively challenged QND the first 10 minutes, putting the Raiders on their heels and forcing goalkeeper Max Frericks to stonewall the Pirates’ Colten Dryden in a 1-on-1 situation.

“Pretty disjointed and unorganized,” QND coach Greg Reis said. “We’re trying to figure some things out in the back. It just wasn’t tight enough. We were too loose in the midfield, which allowed them plenty of time to get their head up and find guys up top.

“They have a nice team. They’re quick all over the place. They have a really good idea of what they want to do with the ball. To their credit, they put it to us the first 15 minutes of the game.”

It changed when Evans won a loose ball near the top of the box, settled it and ripped a left-footed shot into the upper right side of the net for a goal and a 1-0 lead 12 minutes, 20 seconds into the game.

The Raiders scored twice more in the first half with Tanner Anderson and Jacob Vincent netting goals. Both Anderson and Vincent scored in the second half as well.

“Having Brock back was huge,” Reis said. “Unfortunately for Jacob Vincent tonight, he was the odd guy out. So he didn’t start, but I told him, ‘Prove me wrong.’ And obviously he did. He came up with two cracking goals and played really well.”

As did Evans, whose experience and presence will help the Raiders moving forward.

“He’s got a different dimension,” Reis said. “He has a great soccer IQ. He knows how to work in between the lines and find the sweet spots to get the ball to his feet. The guys are comfortable playing the ball to his feet because they know his skill level is high. And he’s dangerous with his free kicks.”