For the week of  October 3 - 9, 2001

Powerful ‘Throats cut a record swath

Boys handle Twin Falls 7-3, 
Stanek sets new scoring standards

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By JEFF CORDES
Express Staff Writer

"We were just running through them," said Community School boys’ soccer coach Richard Whitelaw.

"Them" were the highly-regarded Twin Falls Bruins, who the Cutthroats dispatched 7-3 Wednesday as the highlight of a remarkable week chocked full of seven lopsided wins.

Whitelaw might have been talking about the entire Cutthroat season. His 14-2 team has cut a wide swath, mowing down virtually everyone.

Not only did the Sun Valley kickers stretch their winning streak to 14 games Monday with an 8-0 win over Buhl, they accomplished so much more:

• Obliterated the school’s single-season team scoring record of 79 goals set in the 14-1 State A-2 championship season of 1986. Through Monday, the Cutthroats had scored 111 goals, or 7.0 goals per game.

In all, four Cutthroats have scored 10 or more goals.

• Finished a 9-0 home campaign on the new Browning Field pitch, outscoring opponents at Elkhorn 66-9.
  
  

• Improved to 12-0 in league play with Monday’s triumph over Buhl. Have outscored league opponents 96-13 this fall.
  
  

• Pushed 10th-year coach Whitelaw (103-48-12) over the century mark, the 100th coming over Twin Falls.
  
  

• Last but not least, senior Josh Stanek has now broken the school’s single-season and career scoring standards.

Stanek made it 35 goals in 16 games by scoring five goals in a single contest for the second straight Saturday, then adding four more goals Monday.

With everyone on his team knowing what was at stake, Stanek came out roaring Monday against Buhl and tallied his first goal in only 12 seconds. His next goal was at five minutes, his third at 21.

Two minutes after half, Stanek buried a shot into the corner for his 76th career goal, breaking the previous mark of 75 set by Benji Hill in 1992.

Whitelaw promptly removed Stanek from the game—and one of the first to congratulate the striker was Benji Hill himself.

 

Twin takes a hard fall

Certainly the Cutthroat storm troops have been firing all their guns at once and exploding into space.

But last Wednesday’s stunning four-goal win over Twin Falls turned out to be a one-sided surprise for a Cutthroat squad that was evidently born to be wild.

"It was one of the best high school games I’ve seen," said Whitelaw.

Junior Sean Higgins and senior Nic Hanscom each scored three goals. Stanek scored only once, but he set up three goals with terrific passes.

In the first 20 minutes, however, it looked like Twin Falls (9-2) would extend its mastery over The Community School that included eight wins in the last 10 soccer meetings.

"We were on our heels for the first 20 minutes," said Whitelaw.

Bad luck gave Twin Falls its first goal at 17 minutes. A long Bruins ball took a weird bounce off the head of Cutthroat sweeper Quinn Orb and ended up on the foot of Kenny King of Twin Falls, who went in alone.

Although Twin Falls outshot The Community School 14-8 in the first half, the Cutthroats had better chances and finally scored on a picture-perfect connection that could go down as the "goal of the season."

Stanek faked a Bruins defender and ripped a left-to-right bullet of a cross that "Man of the Match" Sean Higgins headed into the Twin Falls goal at 27 minutes.

Nothing hurts more than a goal just before half-time.

Less than a minute remained when Taylor Rothgeb’s throw-in went to Stanek, who noticed the Bruin defense was flat-footed and stacked in his favor. He passed quickly to Higgins, wide open in the box for a 2-1 ‘Throat lead.

"Higgins got the header and that changed it, then we scored again right on halftime," said Whitelaw of the events that changed the momentum.

Stanek disavowed any Twin Falls notions about an immediate answer when he stole an attempted clearing pass by Bruin goalkeeper Derrick Tenney and stuffed the ball in the corner for a 3-1 lead—with the second half only a minute old.

Three minutes later Twin Falls’ Dylan Sinclair split the middle of the Cutthroat defense for a goal making the score 3-2, but Hanscom tallied the back breaker just a minute later when his long crossing pass kept floating and floating over the head of Tenney.

Sun Valley’s 4-2 lead held up and gave the home team added confidence as the well-matched squads battled evenly for the next 20 minutes.

Then Hanscom made an astonishing individual play on the right wing. He outsprinted two defenders and hammered a hard shot from a seemingly impossible angle that rattled into the Bruins’ goal at 67 minutes.

It opened the floodgates.

Josh Sonneland sent Sean Higgins in, and Higgins scored his hat trick goal. Sinclair (header) got one back for Twin Falls at 72 minutes, but Stanek notched his third assist with a pass that Hanscom banged home. 7-3.

Putting a big punctuation mark on the victory was Cutthroat keeper Drew Detwiler, who stopped a Dylan Mikesell penalty kick at the end.

The seven goals were the most The Community School has scored against Twin in a single game over the 19-game series dating to 1985.

Monday’s 8-0 win over Buhl and Tuesday’s league game at Bliss ended a demanding stretch of eight games in 11 days for the Cutthroats, now idle until their road rematch with arch-rival Wood River Thursday, Oct. 11.

Against Buhl, Sean Higgins (20 goals) scored a pair of goals and "Man of the Match" Sonneland (12) added a single.

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Other games last week:

On Saturday at Browning Field, the Cutthroats built a 9-0 half-time lead and took care of Declo (10-4) by a final score of 9-2. Stanek’s five goals came in the first 20 minutes, after which Whitelaw removed "Man of the Match" Stanek.

Hanscom and Josh Kantor (6) added two goals apiece.

Friday, "Man of the Match" Hanscom (12 goals) tallied two goals and John Hayes (7) added a pair as The Community School downed Magic Valley Christian 7-3. It was 6-0 at the half. Stanek, Sean Higgins and Finn Brown added goals.

Last Tuesday, "Man of the Match" Rothgeb scored two goals—his first of the fall—sparking the host ‘Throats over Wendell 6-0. Adding singles were Stanek, Sonneland, Sean Higgins and Hannes Thum.

Monday’s lopsided contest against Buhl was the home varsity finale for Cutthroat seniors Stanek, Orb, Hanscom, Kantor, Chadd Montgomery and Blake Schnebly.

The district tournament opens Monday, Oct. 15 at Buhl.

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