Coming off their successful run in the Smoky Mountain tournament, the DeKalb County boys soccer team kept the ball rolling with a home win over Livingston. The Tigers took a physical 7-3 win last week with one of their star players Cristobal Flores scoring a hat trick.
It didn’t take long for the Tigers to find the back of the net as Ealy Gassaway fired one past the goal keeper at the eight-minute mark thanks to a Luke Bryant assist. The Livingston goalie barely had time for a sip of Gatorade before the next goal whistled past his ear, this one off the foot of Flores with an assist by Gassaway. The lead went to 3-0 when Dylan Easterwood netted an unassisted goal at the 31st minute.
The visitors were able to find the net at the 41-minute mark when Tee Beaty scored the first of his two goals. DeKalb goalie Wesley Carpenter was credited with six saves on the day.
A shot in the 46th minute gave DeKalb a 4-1 lead as Jasper Kleparek took a pass from Gassaway. Then at minute 52, Flores netted his second goal of the day for a 5-1 lead. A Beaty goal at 64 and a Michael Sells goal at the 70th minute was all Livingston could muster. Flores finished his hat trick with his third goal as the game was in the final minutes.
The Tiger win came after tuning up for the regional schedule by entering the Smoky Mountain tournament. The varsity team opened up with a strong victory against Rockwood High School beating the Rockwood Tigers 3-0. Flores started the scoring with a goal in the five-minute mark assisted by right defensive back Bill Miller. The Tigers continued to pepper the Rockwood goalie, Thomas Lilly, with shots, but didn’t break through until the 20th minute with a goal from Gassaway coming in from his left wing. Ealy’s goal was assisted by center forward Flores on a perfectly timed through ball.
The first half ended 2-0 in favor of the DeKalb Tigers. Early in the second half, Flores tallied his second for the game with an unassisted goal in the 43rd minute. That wrapped up the scoring for the night, but the DeKalb Tigers continued to dominate possession and racked up 30 shots on the night. Goalkeeper Wesley Carpenter barely touched the ball for DeKalb with only four saves in the match.
The dominance continued in the Tigers’ second match with an 8-0 victory over the Heritage High School Mountaineers. Alan Munoz started the scoring in the match by making an overlapping run from his central midfield position assisted by Flores. Munoz went on to score again later in the match with an unassisted goal. Cristobal would go on a record tying run with five goals. Four of the goals were unassisted with the fifth assisted by central midfielder Jasper Kleparek. The scoring was wrapped up with a goal by central midfielder Roberto Sanchez, also assisted by Flores. Goal keeper Carpenter was tested a little more in this match with 13 saves, some of which were spectacular.
The third varsity match was a bit more challenging as the Tigers faced the Kings Academy Lions in a 3-1 loss. The Tigers opened the scoring with a goal by right wing Luke Bryant in the ninth minute. Struggling to maintain possession against a strong Lions team the Tigers only managed nine shots on the day, while goalkeeper Carpenter had to make 12 saves. In the end, the Tigers came up short with the Lions scoring two goals on penalty kicks and one in the run of play.
The Tigers JV also got to play three matches with a 4-1 loss to Cookeville, a 3-1 win over Heritage High School, and a 2-1 loss to Fairview High School.
“Overall the tournament was a success with our JV really improving throughout the weekend, getting a lot of quality time,” Coach Dylan Kleparek said. “Our varsity team showed its relentless nature and pushed themselves to play at a level that we can be proud to call DeKalb County soccer.”
“Cristobal Flores’s five-goal performance against Heritage ties a previously shared record between Ricardo Gutierrez and Zach Wilbur.”
