HR Soccer overpowers Mount Pleasant 10-1

It became apparent very early in the contest that 2A Mount Pleasant was going to be overpowered in the match against the 3A Hickory Ridge Bulls. Sure, the Tigers are a conference opponent in the SPC 3A conference, but the Tigers are the lone 2A school in the conference. The destruction started early and continued until the end. Alex Batson got things started with a goal 2 minutes into the match to put the Bulls up 1-0. The Sr. Midfielder added his second goal of the night 6 minutes later to put Hickory Ridge up 2-0. The onslaught continued with goals by So. Midfielder Kincaid Albers, Sr. Defender Jason Hladik, and Sr. Midfielder Chris Kline to put the bulls up 5-0. A score by Mount Pleasant was quickly answered by Sr. Midfielder Chris Fabers' goal to put the Bulls up 6-1 heading into the half.

The second half was more of the same with coach Wolfe substituting liberally and often. In fact, coach Wolfe continued his first half experiment of moving defensive players to the attacking position to get them valuable experience heading into conference play (1st half: center back Hladik to forward, defensive center mid Cline to forward, and center back Eric Frederick to forward). Chief among them was moving Sr. Jerome Means from his usual defensive midfield position to an attacking midfield postion. Jerorme responded quickly as he pushed a shot past the Tigers onrushing keeper to score the 7th Hickory Ridge goal of the game 5 minutes into the 2nd half. Sophomore defender Darren Ballesteros followed with his first goal of the season to make it 8-1 Bulls. The 9th goal was scored by Jr. midfielder, defender, do everything guy Jake Douglass as he scored his first goal of the season on a header off a cross from Jr. forward Brandon Castillo. A header by Jerome Means in the waning moments of the game completed the final scoring of the night for the dominant Ragin' Bulls.

The Bulls are now 5-1-1 overall and are starting to receive local and statewide attention. As of Tuesday, 9/7, the Bulls received their first ever mention and ranking in the Charlotte Observer Sweet Sixteen debuting at number 16 http://www.charlotteobserver.com/2010/09/06/1673400/sweet-16-soccer.html for their showing against Marvin Ridge and Mooresville the previous week. Statewide, the Ragin' Bulls are "Among Others Receiving Votes" in the NC rankings conducted by Eurosport.com. http://www.eurosportscoreboard.com/cgi-bin/sirkpt1.pl?Type=h&Div=3&Gender=m&State=nc&Season=10&Rtype=1&S=01. These are tremendous accomplishments and uncharted territory for the Hickory Ridge mens soccer team. A victory or draw over the next opponent, one of the conference favorites and Eurosport preseason ranked #15 Concord Spiders, on Thursday 9/9 at Concord High School will only solidify the local/state rankings and reward all the hard work put in by the young men so far this season. Good luck BULLS!