Bulldogs, Indians Claim Wins, Hearts Fall to Braves

Effingham St. Anthony High School hosted the Eagles from Newton Thursday and won 6-0.

"I expected a very aggressive game," said St. Anthony Coach Eric Morales. "In the first three minutes of the game we had four shots on goal that hit four different spots of the goal posts, nearly going in. Finally nine minutes in, James Kabbes found Ryan Kruger from a throw in to net for the first goal of the evening.

"We continued to pepper the keeper over and over. Newton did advance the ball and was able to get a shot that nearly went in. Then with 13:58 left in the half, Lexi Mendella picked up a loose ball and was able to chip it right over to find Ryan who was able to net his second goal of the evening. Six minutes later Newton fouled Kruger in the box and we were given a penalty kick, Donovan Hammer stepped up and sliced it in nice and easy putting us up 3-0. Three minutes after the kick off, Hammer was able to dribble through a few defensive players, poking the ball over to Kyle Hartke who put the ball in netting his first goal of the night making it 4-0 just as the half came to an end.

"We were so pumped that they we were back on the field right away. Nine minutes into the game, Moises Lemus stole the ball and dribbled it down the right side getting deep into the corner, turned and crossed the ball placing it perfect into Ryan's range for him to net his third goal of the night, putting us up 5-0.

"We continued to control the pace of the game, moving the ball up and down the field, testing the Newton keeper. Finally with only 1:32 left in the game, James took a shot on goal that zoomed straight at a defender hitting him in the upper shoulder and rolling into the goal.

"Newton played a hard fought game. They had a lot of heart and some talented players. Matt has done a great job with his program over in Newton, and their future holds a lot of great things."

St. Anthony ended with 22 shots on goal to Newton's two. Nick Grunloh had one save and Alex Beesley closed out the night with two saves. The Bulldogs improved to 13-1 on the season and are still on a 13-game winning streak. The Bulldogs travel to Pana Saturday.

St. Anthony's junior varsity also won its match 1-0 with Mason Thomas scoring.

At Effingham

Mount Zion came calling and handed the Hearts a 5-3 loss in Apollo Conference action.

Mount Zion's Deandre Ghist scored with 23:57 left iin the first half. Then came a goal from Mason Crawford at 13:43 putting the Braves up 2-0. Ghist scored again with 4:31 left before Effingham's Drake Hill got a shot off an Andrew Bingham corner with 3:35 left to pull the Hearts within 3-1.

In the second half, Mount Zion's Ghist scored back-to-back goals to push the lead to 5-1. The Hearts tallied the final two goals. Sean Zerrusen scored unassisted with 4:23 left and Cooper Jackson scored unassisted at 1:28.

Effingham's Jared Minor had nine saves.

The Hearts are now 4-7-2 and 1-3-1 in the conference and return to action Tuesday hosting Charleston.

At Altamont

Altamont handed Vandalia a 9-2 loss Thursday. The Indians improved to 6-7-1 on the season.

Vandalia scored first at the 28:15 mark. Altamont came back with Jesus Flores scoring on an assist by Jacob Crow at 16:47. Crow then scored at the 15:36 mark and Flores again at 10:28. Vandalia scored to pull within 3-2 at the end of the half.

In the second half, Flores scored back-to-back goals making it 5-2. Mitchell Stevenson then scored at 9:42, Christian Freezeland at 9:38, Jason Burns at 4:12, and Lennart Leschinger at 4:00 to end the score at 9-2.

Altamont had 42 shots, 27 on goal. Sam Childerson had two saves.

"Very rarely will you ever find my hoping for an opponent score first, however in tonight's match I did appreciate it," said Altamont Coach Jeff Walton. "And how we were playing we deserved to be scored on. the good thing is we bounced back and started in playing. We also changed ur formation mid-match and reacted well. We scored three straight goals before  Vandalia and a talented Boaz Haveman made his presence known reducing the lead to one.

"After our halftime talk, we came out and played our game. We found the net side more times to extend the lead and put it out of reach. We talked at half about nails in a coffin and let's finish one."