Blackman blanks WC soccer 4-0
MURFREESBORO — Against the wind, Warren County found itself playing catch-up all night long.
Taking advantage of blustery conditions, the Blackman soccer team jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the first few minutes and then cruised to a 4-0 victory over the visiting Pioneers Friday night.
“We pressed them early on,” Blackman coach Bill Vice said. “Our strategy was to keep them pinned in against the win and did that fairly effectively.”
Chris Sanders scored in the first two minutes to give Blackman the lead, and Jeff Boynton added three goals as the Blaze set a new school record for wins at 7-2-1.
“We put numbers on the ball and we capitalized on opportunities,” Vice said. “We could have scored a few more, but we capitalized on the ones we needed.”
After Boynton’s first goal made it 2-0 in the sixth minute, Warren County never recovered as it fell to 1-7.
“It’s everything — you’re climbing uphill from then on,” Warren County coach Charlie Hardee said of the early deficit. “It’s a lot easier to skate downhill than it is to skate uphill. You pretty much spin your wheels going uphill on skates.”
“I think that kind of shocked them,” Vice said. “They were back on their heels, and that was our plan.”
The Blaze defense made life easy for goalkeeper Sean Pierce, who was rarely tested by the Pioneers (six total shots) and finished with three saves. All seven of Blackman’s victories have been shutouts.
Boynton’s hat trick gave him 16 goals this season.
“(Boynton) just seems to have a nose for the goal,” Vice said. “He was the difference. I’d rather use him more as a decoy a lot — play the ball to him and if he starts having too many people cover him, then he can knock the ball and we can go from there.”
It was the extra attention paid to Boyton that helped lead to the first Blaze goal as the Warren County defense collapsed on Boynton. Alex Booten took a pass from Boynton, then passed right to Sanders, who went far post for the score.
Fouled in the box, Boynton converted on the penalty kick to put BHS up 2-0.
Boynton added breakaway goals past Warren County goalie Jonathan Bratcher in the 45th and 50th minutes to dash Pioneer comeback hopes. Bratcher made three saves on 12 Blackman shots.
“They score two in the first 10 minutes and then we settle down,” Hardee said. “They score a couple more in the first 10 minutes of the second half and we settle down again. They’re a good team with good athletes. What can you do?”
The Pioneers managed only five shots, four in the second half.
“We were out-running our midfielders and we’re playing two against four and five, and that’s not good,” Vice said. “We obviously did take care of our opportunities, but I don’t want to play that all the way all the time.”