As Chattanooga Christian sophomore striker Drew Bolano took a moment to reflect on a very successful Friday night, he quickly realized the key focus of the Chargers' practices this week rang true with the chords of a winning tune against visiting Notre Dame.
"We've been talking all week about finishing, and that's exactly what we did tonight," said Balano, who scored twice and had an assist to pace the Chargers' 5-0 District 7-A/AA victory. "We were fired up to play in a rivalry game. We needed a win and we were able to finish off our opportunities."
The Chargers (3-6-1, 1-1-1) converted on five of their first eight shots in the match with Balano scoring on the team's first attempt six minutes in. About 20 minutes later, Balano assisted on the Chargers' second goal by delivering a perfectly placed corner kick that Johnmark Duble headed home.
While the strong defensive play of Paul Fortmiller, John Love and Barrot Bickley limited the Irish to three shots for theh first half and five for the match, Notre Dame narrowly missed two goal opportunities as Michael Quatrano hammered a pair of strong blasts off the crossbar.
Along with Quatrano in the midfield, Notre Dame (4-10-1, 2-1) received strong defensive play from Jared Henry.
"It could have been 2-2 heading into halftime, but it was unlucky for us," said Notre Dame coach Jim Schermerhorn. "We didn't defend the ball well in our penalty box. They took advantage of their opportunities, and that was the difference."
In the second half, the Chargers increased the pressure on the youthful Irish squad as Porter Black's midfield play set the tone. A strong rush by Black helped set up a direct-kick goal by David Drinnon six minutes into the half.
Black was only getting warmed up. He sparked the night's smoothest play with a pass to Will Patten, who sent the ball toward the net for a redirect goal by Bolano. Black capped the scoring with 10 minutes remaining with a blast from 35 yards out.
"It could have easily been 2-2 at halftime, but our guys hit the ball in the net rather than near it tonight," Chargers coach David Stanton said. "We were able to keep the pressure on them with our rotations. I was very pleased with the game tonight. It was probably our best game of the season so far."
Contact Greg Thompson at sports@timesfreepress.com.