Revenge is sweet for Chargers

By Gabe Whisnant
Published in Sports on September 28, 2005 2:06 PM

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The last time Rocky Mount Academy visited Wayne Country Day, the Eagles escaped with a 3-2 win and the Chargers lost their top scorer, Sam Steed, to a broken arm that caused him to miss the final seven games of the regular season.

On Tuesday, Wayne Country Day avenged those losses in impressive fashion -- turning in one of its best all-around performances of the season in a 7-2 win at home. On top of that, Steed and his teammates stayed injury-free in game with its fair share of physical play.

"Every time I tried to make a move, I had that thought come back to me ... knowing that last time I broke my arm," Steed said.

Wayne Country Day, ranked fourth in the latest N.C. Independent Schools Athletic Association poll, improved to 9-3-1 and 2-1-1 in Coastal Plains Independent 1-A/2-A Conference play.

Five minutes into the game, Rocky Mount Academy (3-8, 1-3 CPIC) struck first when Daniel Hood recovered a loose ball in the 18-yard box, settled the ball, then knocked a shot past Charger goalie Ryan Ford to make it 1-0.

The goal proved to be a wake-up call for Wayne Country Day.

Hyo Won Ha, who finished with four goals, notched his first score five minutes later on an assist from Will Futrelle as the Chargers posted seven unanswered goals over the next 60 minutes of play.

Steed scored unassisted on a right-footed blast near the top of the box at the 20-minute mark, while Ha completed the first-half scoring on an assist on a through-pass from Steed five minutes later. By the end of the half, the Chargers outshot the Eagles 8-3 and controlled most of the possession.

"After they got their first goal, we just came out ready to play," Wayne Country Day Michael Taylor said. "That's the best soccer we've played the entire year as far as moving the ball around. Today we controlled the ball. We had a lot of through-balls that were pretty today."

Meanwhile, WCDS defenders Travis Davis, Jeff Franklin, Kevin Herring and Ross Wilson controlled the visitors from Nash County on the defensive end and effectively used the offsides trap. The Eagles were whistled for eight offsides on the game, while the Chargers were offsides just twice.

In the second half, Ha and Steed scored goals within the first nine minutes of play as the Chargers took a commanding, 5-1 lead. Just minutes later, Ha completed his impressive afternoon by dribbling around the defense on the right wing, then took one more dribble to shake the goalie, before booting home his fourth goal to make it 6-1.

Rocky Mount had a golden opportunity to cut the lead to four late in the game, but Gib Alligood's penalty kick was saved by Ford, who finished with four saves.

With 10 minutes left in the game, George Mayo connected from well outside the 18-yard box on the right wing for his first goal of the season. WCDS finished with a 17-8 advantage in shots by games end.

"We really came together today. We got the ball around to everybody," Steed said. "Even though he (Ha) had four goals and had a good game, everybody was involved."

In 13 games, Steed now has 17 goals and 12 assists, while Ha has 11 goals and Futrelle has six assists.

On one of few, multi-pass possessions generated by RMA, Douglas Mackenzie made it 7-2 with two minutes left -- taking an assist from Zachery Cyrus -- to push the score to its final margin.

The Chargers return to action on Friday at Faith Christian-Rocky Mount.