Prep Soccer: East Coweta sweeps Sandy Creek
By DOUG GORMAN
dgorman@newnan.com
The East Coweta Indians showed why they are the fourth-ranked team in the Class AAAAAA state coaches’ boys soccer poll.
Thanks to a quick start, the Indians rolled to a 6-0 victory over Sandy Creek in a non-region doubleheader.
Senior Ian Antley was unstoppable for the Indians scoring the game's first five goals in a span of about 28 minutes. Twin brother Connor got into the act with four assists.
“They are amazing players,” head coach Todd Beldon said. “I am not sure what I would do against them if I was on the other side.”
The Indians have now outscored their opponents 29-6 through five games.
Ian scored on the game’s first shot at the 37:28 mark of the first half and he was just getting started. He added goal No.2 at the 36:12 mark and No. 3 with 27:11 still left in the opening period.
A few minutes later, he added to his effort with goal No. 4. His fifth goal came with 12:26 remaining in the first half.
Connor nearly added one of his own before halftime, had a goal called back on an offsides call.
The Indians’ sixth goal finally came when Diego Velzquez put the only score of the second half in the net.
“This was a good win for us,” Beldon said.”We were able to get the big lead and then get a lot of players into the game.”
East Coweta’s Todd Davis had two solid scoring chances late in the first half. His header missed the mark with about eight minutes to go.
Zack Slayton’s breakaway just missed finding the back of the net late in the first half.
With the win, East Coweta improved to 5-0.
The Indians return to action Tuesday at home against Tri-Cities in a Region 3-AAAAAA contest.
“I am not sure how the region stacks up,” Beldon said “We are just going to go out there and keep playing hard.”
(To view photos from both games, please visit http://photos.times-herald.com/mycapture and click on Sports for the Photo Gallery.)
LADY INDIANS 8, SANDY CREEK 0: East Coweta’s girls took control of the contest in the first half, scoring three times and didn’t let up in the final 40 minutes while improving to 3-2 overall.
Serenity Waters, Nikki Bradley and Morgan Haase each scored twice for the Lady Indians and Lynnsey Danford and Anna Lauzon scored one goal each.
“We are a young team, and we are trying to get a good identity going,” said East Coweta head coach Chris Luppens. “We are on the right track. [On] Wednesday night we had a little bit of a slow start, and tonight we had a little bit of a slow start, but we are starting to play well. It is a gradual process.”
Already up three goals at the start of the second half, the Lady Indians threw the knockout punch just seconds into the final stanza.
Waters blasted the first shot of the second half off the crossbar, but Danford followed up the shot with the a goal about 20 seconds into the second half to give the Lady Indians a 4-0 lead.
Waters struck with the fifth goal of the game about nine minutes later and Haase scored the second of her goals a few minutes later to increase the lead to 6-0.
Waters pushed the lead to 7-0 midway through the second half.
In one of the longest shots of the night, Anna Lauzon’s high-arcing kick with 14:11 left found the mark from 30-yards out to push the lead to 8-0.
A few minutes later, Lauzon nearly struck again from the same distance, but her shot went off the cross bar.
East Coweta built a 3-0 lead at the end of the half with a surge of offense in a span of less than two minutes.
After a few near-misses early in the first half, the Lady Indians exploded with three quick goals.
Brandley’s shot with 13:49 left before the break opened the flood gates for the Lady Indians and gave them a 1-0 lead.
The Lady Indians were just getting started. East Coweta pushed the lead to 2-0 when Lauzon’s feed the ball to Haase off a corner kick. Haase timed the shot carefully, and headed the ball into the back of the net with 11:52 remaining.
Twenty seconds later, the Lady Indians found the mark again when Bradley converted her second shot of the game.
East Coweta kept control of the contest most of the first half.
Sandy Creek only got one shot off in the first 40 minutes of the game when Kara Barbara blasted her kick just wide of the goal with 45 seconds remaining.
The Lady Indians laid the ground work for their offensive surge with a couple of quick shots early in the game.
Less than two minutes into the game Kristen Jones had an opportunity to convert the first shot of the game, but it just missed the mark.
East Coweta kept the pressure on the Lady Patriots’ net a few minutes later, setting up the first of its corner kicks.
Tara Federico’s and Jones also missed wide with shots in the first five minutes of the game.
Barbara had Sandy Creek’s only two shots in the second half against the Lady Indians’ defense, but they went wide.
Tuesday’s home game against Tri-Cities will be the second region game for the Lady Indians.
Earlier this week, East Coweta knocked off Douglas County 5-1.
