St. A, Altamont, T-town Nab Soccer Wins, EHS Plays To Tie

Effingham St. Anthony High School celebrated Senior Night in style by bouncing Centralia Christ Our Rock Lutheran to the tune of 8-0 in soccer action Tuesday.

"I'd like to start out by congratulating all seven of the our seniors," said St. Anthony Coach Eric Morales. "Ashley Dietzen. Alex Bloemer, Kyle Hartke, Ian Harris, James Kabbes, Chandler Martelli and Nick Grunloh. This group of players has been an amazing group to work with. I am very proud of them. They have been the inspiration to the team day in and day out. They will be deeply missed, and they are truly one of a kind. I wish them the best of luck in all they do, in their brightest futures. Thank you for all you have done for everyone and thank you for this wonderful journey you have taken us on. Again Congratulations.

"It was a change of temperatures from the weekend, but what a wonderful evening for soccer," continued Morales. "We played host to the Stallions of Christ Our Rock Lutheran. It was a dandy of a night as the we celebrated Senior Night as well. It was a great game. Donovan Hammer had a corner kick into Chandler Martelli's chest to net the first goal of the evening. Hammer then connected with James Kabbes to put us up 2-0. James then picked up a lose ball bouncing out of the goal with a rocket right back in, making it 3-0. Chandler Martelli later found James again for his third goal of the night to put us up 4-0 at halftime.

"At the start of the second half, Ryan Kruger was able to track a lose ball down and rifle it in to net his first goal of the night. Shortly after, Hammer again worked his magic and was able to spot Moises Lemus for his first goal of the night putting us up 6-0. Later in the half on a throw in, the ball bounced off a few legs only to find the foot of Ian Harris for his first goal of the night putting us up 7-0. As the rule states after seven goals the remainder of the time left in the half is cut in half. So we saw our 25 minute half go to 12 minutes in a snap of a finger. We finished strong only to rally one last goal by Alex from Kyle finishing the game with an impressive 8-0 score."

The Bulldogs improve to 17-2-1 which breaks the school record for most wins in a season. The Bulldogs travel to Teutopolis Thursday to play the Wooden Shoes in their last regular season game of the year.

At Salem

Effingham played Salem to a 2-2 tie in Apollo Conference competition Tuesday.

Salem scored first as Ike Alberson connected with 26:14 left on the clock in the first half. Effingham came back to knot the score as Collin Hecht knocked in the ball with an assist from Andrew Bingham at the 17:43 mark.

The Hearts then pushed ahead 2-1 as Bingham scored unassisted on a 30-yard strike with his left foot at the 14:53 mark. But the Wildcats came back to knot the score as Gavin Webster scored with 6:08 left in the first half.

Effingham's Jared Minor had nine saves while Salem had six saves. The Hearts are now 4-8-5 on the season and 1-4-3 in the Apollo. EHS will play host to Taylorville Thursday with a 4 p.m. varsity start. It will be Senior Night after the varsity match.

In junior varsity play Thursday, the Hearts lost 3-0.

At Altamont

The seniors were honored for Altamont during Senior Night festivities Tuesday as the Indians edged Arthur-Lovington/Atwood-Hammond, 2-1.

Jesus Flores scored for the Indians in the opening half with an assist from Christian Freezeland at the 30:08 mark. That was all the scoring in the first half.

ALAH then knotted the score at the 18:30 mark in the second half. But Jason Burns scored on an assist by Flores to give the Indians the victory.

Altamont took 22 shots, 12 on goal. Sam Childerson had eight saves. ALAH had 17 shots, nine on goal and 10 saves.

"A tale of two halves for our senior match against ALAH," said Altamont Coach Jeff Walton. "We controlled the first half. ALAH did get more shots off in the half, however, they were off quick breakdowns. We had possession and control of the ball in their half of the field for the majority of the first half. Going into half with the lead, we stressed coming out and winning the second half.

"ALAH, however, did not want to go away. They are a good socer team. They had us on our heels for most of the second half and scored an equaling strike to tie the match. We then responded by gaining back tempo to lead on to the 2-1 win for our seniors. The seniors honored were Joey Caravello, Christian Freezeland, Lennart Leschinger, Hunter Barns, Jakob Beckley and Ryan Tillman.

"Tonight was a good win for us at the end of the regular season, for the seniors on Senior Night and to get the team back to .500 for post-season play."

Altamont also claimed the junior varsity match 3-1 to improve to 4-6. Jakob Beckley scored with an assist by Dylan Marble and then scored again unassisted. Marble then tallied on an assist by Sam Childerson.

At Olney

Teutopolis played Olney to a 1-1 tie. The lone goal for the Wooden Shoes was by Caleb Ordner.

T-town won the junior varsity match 1-0.