Reprinted Coutesy of:
Tipton Tribune
By MICHELLE GARMON
Tribune Sports Editor
The fact Carroll had trouble getting a bus which caused Monday’s high school
boys soccer game to start nearly an hour later than scheduled.
But that only delayed the inevitable for the Cougars who ran into a very
methodical and strong Tipton Blue Devil squad that was in attack mode from the
very beginning.
The Blue Devils scored three goals in the first half and added four more in the
second half to record a 7-1 rout over the Cougars.
Tipton is now 7-2-1 on the season and is off until Thursday when it will travel
to Maconaquah.
“The guys started to finally click tonight,” Tipton Coach Chad Comer said.
“After last week, Coach (David) Wood and I decided to challenge our team to stop
worrying about who we are playing against, but to focus on playing to the best
of our ability in every game no matter who we were playing.
“Tonight our team came out strong in the beginning of the game and we never
looked back.”
Tipton had a couple of early shots on goal that led to a Carroll save and one
that just went over the crossbar.
Senior Alex Roe got the Blue Devils on the scoreboard at the 33:53 mark of the
first half. Roe took a pass from Jake Higbee, evaded two defenders and drilled a
low hard shot that glanced off the keeper’s hand and into the goal.
Less than 10 minutes later, Tipton’s lead was 2-0.
Senior Drew Netherton got the ball on the left side and lofted a nice cross that
buried itself in the upper right corner of the goal at the 25:39 mark.
A third Tipton senior, Weston Wood, scored the third goal of the opening half.
Wood’s goal came with 14:49 left to play. Wood’s goal came on a perfectly
executed give-and-go between him and Netherton.
“The senior leadership on our team helped get us fired up and they brought the
intensity to tonight’s match,” Comer said. “We switched some things up before
the start of the game with our team and the rotation to try and help control the
middle of the field better, and I think that if we can perfect it, we are going
to be a really tough team to beat.
“Carroll is having a very good year so far this year and has a very solid
record, so it was good to see our guys put that aside and not play scared, but
just play to the best of our ability.
“I will also be the first to admit that the calls were going in our favor
tonight, but all in all it was a very good game of sportsmanship,” the THS coach
added.
The Blue Devils did not let up in the second half, adding four more goals.
“At the half we continued to encourage the guys to not let down and allow them
to get back into the game,” Comer said. “Coach Wood and I were asking for
another 40 minutes of solid clean soccer and that is what the guys brought.”
While most of the game was played on Tipton’s offensive end of the field, it
took the Blue Devils a little longer to light up the scoreboard in the second
half.
Wood got his second goal as he started a run back on Tipton’s defensive end and
took it all the way to extend the Blue Devil advantage to 4-0 with 21:15 left to
play in the game.
Eleven minutes later the Blue Devils were back at it. Higbee launched a nice
cross. Both Netherton and Wood were attack and got touches on the ball. But it
was Netherton who got the goal. With his back to the goalie, Netherton hit a
shot off the back of his foot past the keeper and into the back of the net for a
5-0 Tipton lead.
Netherton set up the Blue Devils’ next goal as he drew the defense to him and
then touched the ball to Wood, who converted the goal for his fifth hat trick of
the season.
Netherton nearly had a hat trick of his own as he sent a hard shot at the goal.
The ball deflected off the keeper and Higbee was there for the follow that upped
Tipton’s lead to 7-0 with 6:50 remaining in the game.
“At this point, I was able to get the underclassmen into the game for a little
varsity experience,” Comer said. “They were working the ball pretty well and
playing good soccer.
“We left Levi Bess at sweeper and Brock Fulk in the goal and we just had a
complete lapse of concentration with 3:50 left in the game when Carroll took a
shot on Brock and it squeaked just by him.
“Brock had played a very good game as did the rest of the team, but
unfortunately we just had a few seconds where we weren’t concentrating and that
is all it takes for the other team to score.
“All around it was a great game by everyone on our team.”
The Blue Devils outshot the Cougars 27-7 on the night. Tipton had 11 shots on
goal in the first half and 16 in the second.
Carroll, meanwhile, managed three shots on goal in the first half and five in
the second.
Fulk made a nice save with 15 minutes left to play in the first half as he
leaped into the air to ****** a direct kick that came from just outside the box.
He made another nice leaping play in the second half, extending higher than a
Carroll player so he could control the ball before it was headed in.
“Our biggest struggle to date has been playing a full 80 minutes of soccer,”
Comer said. “Tonight, they came out and played a solid 80 minutes and didn’t
allow Carroll to breathe any.
“I have told our team that our best defense is a strong attack and good offense
and tonight that is what we proved.”
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