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MOUNTULLA— Derrick Beaver and the rest of the SouthRowan Raiders keep proving they’re head and shoulders above the rest.
Beaver scored his fourth goal in as many games this season — for the third time off a header — and Nick Thomas connected twice in South’s 6-0 victory at West Rowan.
Wednesday night’s game mirrored the first time the two teams met, a 6-1 Raider win in theRowan County Tournament. Quick goals gave South the early momentum and the Falcons never recovered.
“Everybody’s just getting in there and working hard,” Beaver said. “Long balls were working pretty good and we were putting it right to each other’s feet.”
The loss proved doubly frustrating to West, and not just because the Falcons couldn’t offer a better showing than the first time around. Tuesday, West played the game of its life for a 2-1 upset of Salisbury. But that same intensity level couldn’t be reached against a South team that nipped the Hornets for the RowanCounty title last week and looks great gearing up for a tough league run in the Class 4ACentral Piedmont Conference.
“In our favor was that they played Salisbury last night, and I know the last two years after we played Salisbury in the tournament we were really sore, and that makes a difference,”saidSouth head coach Sean Szakal, who wasn’t expecting another blowout Wednesday. “I’ve been telling them the whole time that whenever you beat a team 6-1, the next time they’re going to be ready to get even.”
But West (2-2) had little time to dream of payback, as a missed defensive assignment gave the Raiders a lead in the fourth minute. South senior Neal Roberts found fellow senior Jesus Leon on a throw-in in the middle of West territory. Leon took the ball and began to maneuver, then found out that no one came to mark him. He drove down the right side of the field and delivered a perfect pass to senior Nick Thomas, who beat one defender and keeper Greg Lowe for a tap-in deep in the box.
Beaver, a junior, kept up his scoring streak in the 12th minute when junior Adam Pethel launched a corner kick right at his teammate’s head. Beaver hardly had to move to aim the ball in from 5 yards out for a 2-0 lead.
“It feels pretty good,”Beaver said of his four goals in South’s 4-0 start. “Last year I only got one goal the whole season.”
Leon found Thomas again in the 19th minute on a goal the West fans found not to their liking. Leon’s long pass hit Thomas running side-by-side with two Falcon defenders on a play that was very close to being offsides. But the flag didn’t go up, Thomas outran the defense and had a chip shot for his second score.
West had a few scoring chances late in the first half, but junior keeper Jesse Eldred turned away a header on goal in the 35th minute. Seconds later, the Falcons thought they had a goal when Carlos Arosemena crashed into Eldred and sent the ball into the net, but it was ruled that Eldred had control at the time of the collision.
Few chances emerged after that.
“The defense was so strong. It was the other night at Kannapolis, too,”Szakal said of his team’s 4-2 win Monday. “We only put four in that night, but we’re playing together really well.”
South matched its total against the Wonders in the 50th minute when freshman Matt Maris fed Ronnie Shore a long through ball. Pethel made it 5-0 in the 65th minute when his corner kick sliced into the net, and Pethel capped the scoring with eight minutes left when he found senior Michael Hamm deep in the box.
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NOTES: Szakal credited Thomas and Henry Menjivar for leading the strong play at the forward spot. … Sophomore Philip Riley saved the shutout with 10 minutes to go when he kicked a ball away from the goal line on a mad scramble in the box. … South’s next match is a rematch — the first of two contests against Salisbury, coming Monday and Thursday, Sept. 7. West opens Class 3A SouthPiedmont Conference play Monday at Harding.
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