St. A Blanks EHS, Mattoon Ends Altamont's Perfect 4-0 Soccer Start

Effingham St. Anthony High School blanked Effingham 8-0 in soccer action Tuesday.

"Another great afternoon for soccer, weather started out extremely hot, but suddenly cooled down as the game got started," said St. Anthony Coach Eric Morales. "Effingham vs. St. Anthony is always a rival match. We were coming off our great finish at our own invitational and we were ready to play.

"With a few key players out due to illness and injury, we had to readjust our lineup at the last minute.  Just five minutes in Moises Lemus found Wade Wenthe for a nice pass only for Wade to find the back of the net to put us up 1-0. Very shortly after, Wyatt Lawrence found Moises giving him his first goal of the game, going up 2-0. Kruger finally made his way to the field after sitting a good 15 minutes and immediately found Jake Brandt for his first goal of the season. putting us 3-0. Reily Ashton later found Andy Saba for a goal and right after Reily put one in unassisted and we led 5-0 at half.

"Returning at half we played much of the same, controlling the field and moving the ball up and down the field very well.  Shortly into the half Alex Deters had a corner kick only to find the foot of Moises putting us up 6-0. Later Deters scored one of his own, only to force the referees to cut what time was left in half, due to the score. Kruger made one more final showing as he only totaled eight minutes of playing time and was able to net a goal at the end putting the final score at 8-0.

"We played very well, and I was able to rotate a lot of the younger players in and they made a good showing. I was very proud of them. Alex Beesley and Derek Kruger both saw minutes as keepers and held their position well.  But the standout of the game was the defense. They continue to hold their iron curtain and stay strong, and not allow anyone just to walk in and take shots. Effingham had one shot attempt on goal late in the second half. We come to play hard, aggressive and fast, as we continue to take this one game at a time we continue to get stronger and stronger."

The Bulldogs are now 4-0-1 and will travel to East Richland (Olney) to play the Tigers Thursday.

At Mattoon

Mattoon High School ended Altamont's perfect start to the soccer season by blanking the Indians 9-0 Tuesday.

The Green Wave took a 6-0 first half lead then came back with three more goals in the second half. Altamont had seven shots, four on goal. Sam Childerson had seven saves. Mattoon had 22 shots, 16 on goal and four saves.

Altamont drops to 4-1 on the season and will host Newton Thursday.