Elijah Norman Celebrates With the Teammates After Scoring For Eagles vs Walker Valley.(Photo:Byrd)
Eagles Play 4-0 Second Half For Win
The Eagles traveled to Walker Valley High School on Tuesday night, 4-14-26, to take on the Mustangs for another district rivalry game. The last time they faced off, it ended in a tie with 7 seconds left on the clock, so the Eagles came out with some readjustments and were ready to play. Varsity followed with the Eagles starting off the first half with several shots on goal, some hitting off the crossbar, while several others were narrow misses. While the Eagles controlled the main pace of the game, the Mustangs were able to put together a few deadly drives late into the 1st half, with one of them succeeding on a cross into the far corner of the field with no Eagle covering, and the Mustang player ran on uncontested to a far corner shot. Mustangs held the lead going into halftime of 0-1. Coach Carson got the boys refocused and centered at halftime, and within the first 4 minutes, Sawyer Campbell slotted a great through ball into Geo Pacheco into the center of the box, which Pacheco neatly planted into the far corner of the net, Eagles now tied it up 1-1. The Eagles never let up, continuing to win the balls through the middle and crossing them out wide with their passing game. One such play came from Ian Arnold driving down the far right side of the field and neatly driving a low ball right across the top of the 18 box, which Pacheco ran on to, 1 touch finish into the near corner of the net, giving the Eagles a 2-1 lead. The crowd of support for the Eagles started picking up at this point, cheering their boys on and giving them continuous momentum to keep pushing! Ian Arnold took a corner kick about halfway through the 2nd half, which Elijah Norman was there to collect with a header jump up over the crossbar and plant it down and into the far corner of the net, Eagles up 3-1, and the crowd went wild with excitement as the lead increased!! Pacheco was not done for the night, as he chased down a beautiful punt by goalie Sam Rasnake, won the ball and took a few touches to the outside, beating the defender and lining up for an absolutely phenomenal 25 yard far corner, upper 90 goal, Eagles now leading 4-1!!
The Eagle fans were now relentless in their cheering and encouragement, as the Mustangs tried to drive down and get back on the board for the 2nd half. Despite a few close calls, the Eagles defense and goalie Rasnake kept the Mustang’s few attempts off, and with 3 minutes left on the clock, Norman had a massive throw-in down the line to Ian Arnold, which he drove in with 3 touches and did a line drive shot past the goalie, near side of the goal!! Exciting end to the game as Norman & Arnold both helped assist in their goals for each other and Pacheco securing another hat trick for the season! Final score of 5-1 for the Eagles and what an AMAZING night of pure excitement for the Eagles, as they came back in the 2nd half from, not only a deficit, but putting 5 GOALS in 40 minutes into the net!! Coach Carson had this to say following the game, “Our effort has been great all season, but our execution has been inconsistent. The second half of the game was a glimpse of what happens when our effort is great, and we’re executing like we’re capable of. However, we still haven’t put a full game together yet; once we can play a full 80 minutes with great effort & execution, I think we have the potential to be a very dangerous team.” This district win puts the Eagles record now at 2-0-2 with a chance to take over the number one slot when they face off at Cleveland on 4-21-26! Come out and support our boys as they continue to pick up the pace and play well during this season!
The JV game started things off at 5pm with a win of 1-0, goal by Mason Daniels (assist Connor Carson), to start the night off right.
Artice by Audrey Norman
