The Thomson High Soccer Dogs defeated Butler by a score of 5-0 in an away game at Butler Stadium on Friday.
“That was a good game,” Thomson coach Zack Tucker said. “I was a little worried coming into it that Butler’s athleticism might cause some problems for us, but our guys did a great job.”
The first half proved most productive for Thomson, starting with an early goal by Marquis Cook to put the Dogs on the board. Cook soon scored a second goal to give the Dogs a 2-0 lead.
“I can’t even really remember the first goal, I just remember the ball going in,” Cook said following the game. “On the second goal, I remember seeing their goalie playing over to the right, and when they fumbled the ball, I took it to the left and it went in.”
Thomson added two more goals in the half, one off the foot of Sherrod Hart, and another from a penalty kick by Will Land. At halftime, the score stood 4-0 in Thomson’s favor.
“Let’s preserve this shutout,” assistant coach Brad Adams told his team at the half. “If we don’t, it’s shame on us.”
It was obvious from his half time speech that Tucker wanted as many players to get goals in the game as possible.
“Play your game, and you’ll get your goal,” he told the team.
Thomson did keep the ball in Butler’s half of the field for much of the second half, but the goals didn’t come as easily as in the first. The Dogs did add another point to their lead, however, when Billy Felts sent the ball into the net to make the score 5-0, where it remained until the end of regulation play.
Thomson played the game missing four starters, with John Holliman, Ford Adams, Fabian Few and Zach Conner out with injuries.
“Trevor Harrington went in for Zack Connor, and he did a fabulous job holding down that outside spot very well,” Tucker said following the game. “Sherrod went in for Fabian at our stopper position, and he got the goal on an excellent play. And in the mid-field we played some guys that get a lot of play time, they just aren’t our starters, and they all did a fantastic job. We did a very good job tonight doing exactly what we wanted to do. We did a great job in the first half playing the ball wide, which is what we like to do, and playing our style of soccer. After a few minutes we started calling our shots and we jumped to a lead quickly in the first half, and that’s what we wanted to do, so we could rest and get ready for next week.”
Thomson had an away game vs ARC on Tuesday and faced Josey at home on Wednesday. Their next home game is Friday, March 16 vs. Hepzibah. But it was the ARC game the team seemed to be most looking forward to.
“I’m looking for a good win against ARC,” Marquis Cook said. “We haven’t beat them in my four years here, and that’s what I want us to do on Tuesday.”
