SHINDLE - The Mifflin County Christian boys soccer team took an important step in its match against Calvary Christian Monday afternoon - with the Eagles' 4-0 shutout of the Huntingdon Academy, the local school earned a winning record with a bit of style.
Because of Calvary Christian's small roster, each team played short a man - a courtesy the Conquerors extended to Mifflin County Christian in its leaner years. But that didn't seem to have any effect on Mifflin County Christian's ability to score.
Just one minute into the first half, Mifflin County Christian's Jon God rocketed one past Calvary Christian's keeper after receiving a nice feed from Luke Todd. Then at about midway through the half, Todd fed another one across the field to Kolton Aumiller, who then extended Mifflin County Christian's lead to 2-0.
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Sentinel photo by BRADLEY KREITZER
MIfflin County Christian Academy’s Kolton Aumiller, left, takes a shot between Calvary Christian Academy defenders Devin Park (13) and Ben Kilian (11) Monday in Shindle.
With the momentum fully in Mifflin County Christian's favor, Calvary Christian had a chance to swing things in its favor when one of its players dribbled down the right side of the field for an open shot at the goal, but Mifflin County Christian keeper Brad Smith dove and just tipped the ball away from the net to keep his team's shutout intact.
"We didn't play real sharp soccer tonight, but we'll take it," Mifflin County Christian coach Craig Todd said.
Even if the team wasn't as sharp as Todd wanted it to be, the Eagles still found plenty of ways to score. Before the first half was over, God was able to score his second goal of the night, and at the 9:30 mark in the second half Luke Todd finally found one of his own when he scored one from the left baseline.
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Mifflin County Christian hosts Emmanuel Baptist Thursday
The Eagles' defense also played a pivotal role in the win. With the help of players such as Tom Breneman, Cameron Aumiller and Brennan Groff, the Mifflin County Christian defense kept Calvary Christian's scorers at bay the whole game. Calvary Christian only got four shots off the entire outing.
Todd was overall pleased with his defense's performance.
"We've got some older kids that are pretty confident, and they feel they can handle almost any offense - not any offense, but this offense anyway. So they tried to cheat up a little bit and push, but they think they can catch back and sometimes that doesn't always work for you."
But even in the few times when the defense didn't contain Calvary Christian's strikers, Smith was always there to keep things under control. In addition to his pivotal save in the first half, Smith had numerous times when he kept Calvary Christian from finding the back of the net.
Mifflin County Christian (4-3) hosts Emmanuel Baptist on Thursday, the second of three straight home contests to close out the boys' season.
