Wednesday, September 19, 2007

Top-ranked Cutthroats pound Bliss, stay unbeaten

Stone reaches 77 goals with another two-spot


By JEFF CORDES
Express Staff Writer

The Community School boys' soccer team got several things accomplished last week during a homestand of four games in seven days.

First of all, coach Richard Whitelaw's unbeaten Cutthroats (8-0-0, 8-0-0 league) won all four games by wide margins and upheld their top-of-the-state ranking in the Idahosports.com 3A boys' soccer poll.

They knocked off last year's High Desert Soccer Conference champion Bliss 6-2 Friday in an evening game at Browning Field that was delayed for 40 minutes by lightning.

And they got senior co-captain Travis Stone over his first hump on Stone's goal-scoring record assault.

Stone's two goals against Bliss gave him 18 for the season and 77 goals in 58 starts over four years. He eclipsed Sean Higgins (76) and moved into second place on the school's all-time goal scoring list.

Remarkably, Stone has now scored in all eight Cutthroat games this season, and has provided at least one goal in an impressive 35 of 49 games since his sophomore year.

Sophomore Tanner Flanigan (12 goals season) opened the scoring Friday against Bliss in the eighth minute of a sluggish first half for the Cutthroats. But the resilient Bears got goals by sophomore Cole Erkins in the 15th minute and Dale Butler in the 23rd minute for a brief 3-2 lead.

Whitelaw said, "It's the first time we've been behind all year."

Stone equalized at 31 minutes and senior co-captain Connor Brown (5 goals) made it 3-2 Cutthroats right at half.

Whitelaw said, "We had played so well against Gooding (a 6-1 home win the previous night). I told the team at half, if you can be playing so poorly and we're still winning, I guess we're in good shape.

"And we came out and dominated the second half."

Flanigan added his second goal at 49 minutes and Stone made it 5-2 with his second goal at 60 minutes. Junior midfielder Peter Atkinson closed the scoring with his first goal in the 67th minute. Bliss keeper Erik Rojas saw plenty of shots.

Whitelaw didn't name a "Man of the Match" against Bliss, figuring that his players might rectify that omission with a better effort when they travel to Bliss (4-2-0, 4-2-0) for the regular-season finale Oct. 3.

Meanwhile, "Man of the Match" Stone scored a season-best four goals Thursday as the Cutthroats polished off Gooding (5-3-0, 5-3-0) by a score of 6-1 at Browning Field. Flanigan and Brown added singles

The Cutthroats can clinch the regular-season High Desert title and the top seed in October's eight-team league tournament with road wins at Wendell (1-5-1, 1-5-1) Tuesday and Buhl (1-8-0, 0-7-0) Thursday.

It's off to Hailey for the team's toughest game of the season to date, against 4A Wood River Saturday, Sept. 22 at 1 p.m. at South Valley Sports Complex soccer field.




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