Perhaps the most discouraging thing for a soccer team to see from its opposition is a mass substitution 10 minutes into a match. If that’s not an indication of having things under control, seeing another occur 10 minutes after that surely is.
Host Chattanooga Christian had things going its way early, had things under control unusually early and coasted to a 9-0 victory over Livingston Academy in a Region 4-A/AA high school boys’ semifinal Tuesday.
CCS (17-1-1) will host district rival Notre Dame on Thursday in the region championship match at 7 p.m. Both advance to Saturday’s sectional round where winners will advance to the state tournament.
The match was barely more than a minute old when Rocklin Shumaker scored the first goal. He added another not long afterward on a penalty kick.
After the first bulk substitution, the Chargers put together a three-goal flurry in a span of less than three minutes, and before 13 minutes had gone by the lead was 5-0.
“We saw them in our tournament earlier this year, so we thought if we came out and played like we were capable we could move through to the next match,” CCS coach Shawn Brower said. “We got everybody a lot of time.
“The challenge in a game like this is for us to keep playing hard throughout the 80 minutes, so we can be prepared for what’s next,” Brower said.
Adam Ryan and Corey Wilson each had two second-half goals for the Chargers. Drew Daniels, Tim Love and Matt Foreman had the goals in the short time frame.
Beau Simmons, Foreman, Michael Powell, Carson Whitmore, Taylor Farrar and Ryan were credited with assists.
Keeper Josh Blomberg was a spectator most of the time but did have saves on Livingston’s three shots on goal.