Pine Creek junior Zack Wiese continued on his march to the Eagle
record books this past week as he picked up his eighth goal of the
season during a 6-0 victory over Fountain-Fort Carson on Sept. 23.
The goal was Wiese’s 16th of his career.
Yet despite his knack at finding the back of opposing teams’
nets at extreme regularity, the humble junior is not concerned much
one way or another, about whether or not he will go down as the
all-time leading scorer in Pine Creek history, or set the single
season scoring record. He currently needs 13 more goals to tie the
career mark and six to tie the season if he is to do so this
year.
“If it gets broken, it gets broken,” Wiese said. “But if it
doesn’t, then as long as we’re working well as a team that’s all
that matters.”
The Eagles have been working very well as a team this season,
too. After dropping their first game to Hinkley 1-0, Pine Creek
ripped off seven consecutive wins before settling for a 1-1 tie in
their most recent outing, Sept. 26 at Doherty. Their 4-0-1
conference mark currently has them alone in first place in the 5A
Metro League.
“It’s all about my teammates,” Wiese said. “They find me, and
it’s the same with them, they find the back of the net too.”
His teammates will tell you however, that a lot of the reason
Pine Creek has been so successful this season has to do with the
play of Wiese, who, by the way, doesn’t even play club soccer in
the spring or summer because he is too busy rotating between third
base and shortstop for the Eagles’ baseball team in the spring and
playing club baseball in the summer.
“He’s just unbelievable,” senior Jeremy Miller said. “He just
plays fall ball and he lights everybody up. It’s impressive to
watch him play.”
Just because he is humble, doesn’t mean he doesn’t know how to
joke around either. Both Miller and coach Ben Corley commented on
Wiese’s “off the cuff” sense of humor.
“He’s always making everybody laugh and joking around,” Miller
said. “He’s the team bond. He’s the funny guy.”
And on the field?
“He’s a great finisher,” said junior Zac Davis. “He always ends
up in the right place and he makes the most of virtually every
chance he gets.”
Corley believes that the kids respect and look up to Wiese
because of the way in which he carries himself, both on and off the
pitch.
“It’s rare to find a kid that has such a humble attitude about
doing his job in the context of the team,” Corley said. “You never
hear him bragging or asking to go in, or asking for things. He just
works hard and puts himself in position to put the ball in the back
of the net.”
When asked about his goals for the season, all Wiese said he
cares about is that his team makes it to the playoffs again and
gets past the first round.