SOCCER: Jordan, Sexton account for CBA offense

By Ben Coley
Published in Sports on September 16, 2016 9:57 AM

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PIKEVILLE -- C.B. Aycock and Southern Wayne were due for a battle on Thursday night. And the referees may have taken those terms literally.

Players from both sides were constantly pushed out of bounds, shoved in the back and tripped by the opposition. Yet each referee decidedly saved their whistles for the most egregious of fouls.

"All right, they're letting us play!" CBA head coach Cory Worrell shouted to his players from the sideline.

The Golden Falcons heeded the message and pulled out a hard-nosed, physical 2-0 victory over the Saints at Hardy Talton Stadium. With the win, CBA stopped a two-game losing streak, and scored multiple goals for the first time since a win versus Goldsboro on Aug. 18.

"(The offensive production) was a lot better than it's been in the past couple of games," Worrell said. "I was trying to press high against Southern Wayne's defense. All credit due to Southern Wayne. They were knocking on the door several times toward the end of the game."

The first goal was scored in the 15th minute by CBA's Coe Jordan. The Saints' defense was in disarray, and Jordan caught the goalkeeper out of position, and guided the ball into the net.

In the 54th minute, Jordan once again found himself involved in the offense. He zipped a diagonal pass to sophomore Christian Sexton who was striding down the left side of the field. Sexton gathered the ball from 25 yards out, and gave CBA a lead that SW never threatened.

"The first (goal) was communication," said SW coach Mario Aguilar Sr. "The defender told the goalie to come out, and he didn't come out. On the second goal, it was a foul, but the referee didn't call it. We had opportunities. We got a couple of shots, but there was some fouls that (the referee) did not call."

Aguilar wasn't the only one who was mystified by the lack of foul calls. Throughout the game, Worrell pleaded with the referees as he paced up and down the sideline.

He would make his case, but the referees were content with swallowing their whistles and allowing the game to move forward. Though he was upset at some of the non-calls, Worrell saw the physical play as an opportunity for his team to gain strength as a unit.

"Each referee is going to be different," Worrell said. "So we just got to play the first 10 minutes of the game and see how the referee is going to call the game. He let some of the stuff go, so I told the boys, 'Hey, let's play a little bit more aggressive.'"

CBA's next four conference games are all against 4-A schools -- D.H. Conley, South Central, New Bern and J.H. Rose. The four teams have a combined record of 14-8-6.

If that stretch of matches proves to be as physical as the showdown against SW, Worrell knows his team will react in the correct manner.

"They get frustrated because they get shoved and nothing is getting called," Worrell said. "But they were very disciplined to know to shut their mouth. If a foul doesn't get called, then you play on until you hear the whistle. I've taught them to be disciplined and let me do the yelling."