Camerson Anderson might as well have had a recliner to sit back and enjoy the action. The Chattanooga Christian goalkeeper keeper spent the first 67 minutes of Tuesday's 6-0 Region 4-A/AA soccer win over Friendship Christian without much to do.
"We were just having so much high pressure that they were never able to get the ball inside to us," said Anderson, who did wind up with two saves after a late Commanders flurry. "The offensive pressure was so good that we were able to keep the ball on their half pretty much the whole game."
The Chargers (13-3-4), who will host Notre Dame in Thursday's region final at 7, completely controlled every facet of Tuesday's match, including a 42-3 shot advantage. As Anderson attested to, more than 90 percent of the action was spent in Commanders territory.
CCS applied pressure from the opening whistle, though several good scoring opportunities resulted in either balls caroming off the goal or being knocked aside by Friendship's tireless keeper, Brandon Estes.
"From the first moment [the Commanders were set in, with eight and nine guys in the box," CCS coach Shawn Brower said. "We had some frustrating moments with like five shots off the post or crossbar. I think we all knew it was going to come once we got one to stick in. It took some patience, and it was a nice team effort."
The patience, and continual pressure, was finally rewarded with 11:37 remaining in the first half when Adam Ryan knocked in a short shot off a pass from Beau Simmons. Barely two minutes later, Will Taylor headed in a rebound past Estes for a 2-0 lead that stood at halftime.
The Chargers' depth paid off in the second half as a flurry of substitutes kept the pressure up. Taylor Black scored the team's third goal off a corner throw just three minutes into the half. Carson Whitmore added a goal eight minutes later and David Quezada, just up from the junior varsity team, scored a pair of goals in the final eight minutes to round out the scoring.
"We are fairly deep, and I have a lot of confidence in so many players that I don't think it took very long to wear them down," Brower said. "We brought in seven or eight guys with our first substitution, and I kind of think that it was demoralizing because they're just as aggressive."
* Notre Dame 4, DeKalb County 0: At Smithville, Mark Koenig scored three goals and Blaise DiStefano had three assists in the victory for the Irish (10-4-3). Brian Delaney scored the other goal.