The Shadow
HOT SPRINGS — The Bath County boys are one win from the Pioneer District soccer championship.
Thursday on Carl F. Williams Field, four different Chargers scored and the BC?defense pitched a shutout in a 5-0 district win over Covington.
The win improved the Chargers to 7-0 in the Pioneer and 7-1 overall. Bath hosts Parry McCluer on Thursday with the district title on the line.
“The win tonight guarantees a share, but a win next week and it’s ours outright,” said BCHS?coach Mark Hall. “I’m looking forward to it. I want as many people here that night as we can get. I want to pack the stands for the team.”
Thursday, the Chargers got a first half score from Javier Walker in the 22nd minute, off a Sean Gardener assist, and a penalty kick goal from Tyler Bryant in the 23rd minute for a 2-0 halftime lead.
Bryant scored again in the 47th minute, Gardener added a goal in the 68th minute and Gardener assisted on a Darin Ryder goal in second half stoppage time.
“All season we’ve been a second-half team, we’ve played better in the second half,” said Mark Hall. “Go back and look and we probably doubled or tripled our points in the second half. I keep trying to warn the team that when we go up against the Auburns, the Radfords, we can’t do that. We have to play all 80 minutes.
“But we kept it close in the first half and we turned it on in the second half,” he added. “The other night against Parry we did the same thing, we gave them two shots on goal in the second half. Tonight, the ball stayed up on this end. We’ve got to clean some stuff up, but we will get there. We will get there where we need to be.”
Hall pointed to the defensive duo of Nick White and Kyle Reed for getting the job done in the win.
“Nick White and Kyle Reed are just doing an awesome job,” he said. “They are picking it up so fast for us. They are listening to what we are saying — they’re buying in. That’s half the battle, getting them to buy into what we are doing and believing in it.”
Covington, who played without injured leader Terran Baker, dropped to 3-8 overall with the loss and 3-4 in the Pioneer District.
“I was really impressed with our team tonight, really proud of them,” said CHS?coach Heather Baker. “They ran their butts off and really held it together. I think we were all kind of expecting to see a different score and have a shorter game. But we played really tough and I saw some excellent things happening.”
Covington finishes the regular season with a road game at Craig County on Monday.
Pioneer District Tournament
The Pioneer District boys soccer tournament is set for May 21, 22 and 24.
The No. 4 seed will host the No. 5 seed in a first round match on Tuesday, May 21. Semifinal matches are scheduled for Wednesday, May 22, at Southern Virginia University in Buena Vista. Both the consolation and championship matches will be Friday, May 24, also at SVU.
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Bath County topped Covington, 5-0, in a Pioneer District boys soccer match-up on Thursday at Carl F. Williams Field. Bath County’s Javier Walker is defended by Covington’s Tristan Long. (Gavin Dressler Photo)
