Game StoryWernsing’s Five Goals Power Litchfield Past Pana 9-0 in Conference Rout

LITCHFIELD, Ill. — Landon Wernsing scored five goals and added two assists Tuesday as Litchfield overwhelmed visiting Pana 9-0 in a conference boys soccer match, a game the Purple Panthers controlled from end to end while keeper Cooper Martin kept a clean sheet.

The senior forward’s 12-point afternoon accounted for more than half of Litchfield’s scoring output and set the tone for a attack that spread the ball around and found the net nine times against the Panthers. Wernsing was not the only senior with a hand in the surge: Brody Dykema finished with two goals and three assists for seven points, and Tyler Belusko added a goal.

Litchfield’s scoring was not limited to its upperclassmen. Freshman Ian Birkenkamp scored once and set up another goal for three points, and fellow freshman Sam Mazza chipped in an assist. Junior Korbin Johnson added two assists without taking a shot on goal, a reflection of a Litchfield possession game that produced an assist on every one of its nine goals — a sign the Purple Panthers were building chances through combination play rather than relying on individual runs.

Dykema’s three assists and Wernsing’s two were the backbone of that distribution. With four different players finding the scoresheet as goal scorers and six total contributing points, Litchfield gave Pana little to key on defensively.

At the other end, Martin was credited with the shutout in goal, Litchfield’s clean sheet sealing a result that never appeared in doubt. Pana, which had come in as the road side, was unable to break through in either half.

For Litchfield, the margin represents the kind of complete performance — senior leadership up top, freshmen contributing in the attacking third and a shutout in net — that conference contenders are built on.