Golden Falcons avenge lone loss

By Andrew Stevens
Published in Sports on October 23, 2008 1:46 PM

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PIKEVILLE -- Wilson Hunt may have been better than Charles B. Aycock on one night.

Not this Wednesday night, however.

The Golden Falcons outplayed, outworked and outclassed the Warriors for 80 minutes and earned a 4-2 victory in the finals of the Class 3-A Eastern Carolina Conference men's soccer tournament at Hardy Talton Stadium.

C.B. Aycock (19-1 overall) claimed its unprecedented fourth consecutive tournament championship. The Golden Falcons, ranked No. 9 statewide, avenged a defeat to Hunt (16-4-1) nearly a month ago.

Thomas Oliver gathered a rebound from Hunt keeper Will Jacobs and stuck it in the back of the net in the 12th minute.

"I was just in the right place at the right time," said Oliver. "We came out really focused and pumped up for this game after we lost at Hunt. Hunt has a good team and we just knew we had to play our best game."

The No. 13-ranked Warriors notched the equalizer in the 27th minute when Robert Schick scored on a header off a corner kick from Henry Orellana. The game remained tied at 1-1 at halftime despite Aycock's 7-2 shots-on-goal advantage in the first half.

David Burke delivered an arching cross through the 18-yard box that Alex Rodriguez headed past Jacobs for a 2-1 lead in the 54th minute.

With Rodriguez on the sideline battling cramps, Ryan Martin stepped in and almost immediately delivered a textbook pass down the line to Oliver in the 56th minute. Oliver raced past the Warriors' defense and buried a blast past Jacobs to extend the advantage to 3-1.

"Thomas has come in this year and filled Jorge (Delgado's) shoes," said C.B. Aycock co-head coach Byron Adkins. "He and Alex have formed quite a partnership, but you also have Ryan Martin and Chase (Thompson). We have four guys that are coming in that we rotate and it's working out really well for us."

Harry Lamm's goal in the 75th minute gave Hunt new life that would prove to be short-lived.

Rodriguez drew a penalty kick on a foul in the box in the 79th minute. With Rodriguez unable to take the kick due to an injury, Gavin Forrest rocketed a shot past Jacobs that gave the Golden Falcons homefield advantage throughout the playoffs.

"I told the boys if we have to go on the road, it's going to be that much harder," said Adkins. "When people come here, we haven't lost in forever. I think we've only lost four or five games in like four years, it's a crazy number.

"It was huge and (Hunt) knew it was huge, too. They had to win and now they have to go on the road, so we're happy with that."

In its loss at Hunt, Aycock was exposed defensively and its midfield seemed to disappear at times. On Wednesday, the Golden Falcons shut down the Warriors' main scoring threat Aaron White and the midfield consistently applied pressure on the Hunt defense while feeding passes to the attacking forwards.

Keeper Brandon Davis finished with four saves.

"When we went down (to Hunt) a few weeks ago they outplayed us and since then we've been preaching, 'intensity, intensity,'" said Adkins. "The boys came out tonight and they won every 50-50 ball and Hunt didn't really have a lot on frame. We gave away a couple of goals, but we were great tonight for 80 minutes.

"The midfield played really well. Tucker (Pearson) and Gavin, they're our two main guys in the midfield and if they don't go we have a hard time winning. Tonight, they went for 80 minutes."