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STEUBENVILLE – The Steubenville boys’ soccer team took it to visiting Tri-Valley Saturday afternoon inside historic Harding Stadium.
Landon Bowers delivered a hat trick and two assists leading Big Red to an 8-0 victory against the Scotties in the first game of a doubleheader on Reno Saccoccia Field.
“We played extremely well,” Big Red (3-1) head coach Greg Bowers said. “I am proud of the kids for that. We saw film on Tri-Valley. We put a plan in place, and we executed it as well as you can early in the season.”
The boys from Jefferson County received contributions from plenty of players throughout the contest.
“Our goal was to press them hard and to counterattack,” Coach Bowers said. “We were able to create opportunities. We were able to get some shots off. We finished well.”
Chase Beall tallied two goals and assist to help the cause for the Red-and-Black, Joel Elliott tallied a goal and an assist and Justin Pathakamuri and Dom Pietro each produced an assist. Also, Wells Gage and Christopher Jones each ended up with an assist in the win.
“The kids are feeding each other,” Coach Bowers said. “We have a young team. We only have two senior starters in our lineup. We have some young guys getting varsity minutes. We want to keep things going.”
Big Red has scored 19 goals in its last three games.
JJ Lamantia made eight saves in goal for Big Red en route to earning the shutout.
Eli Woytko made 15 saves for Tri-Valley (3-4).
“Coach (Brad) Elliott and I were able to get together,” Coach Bowers said. “I don’t know what families they are, but he has family from around here and his family was able to watch him coach and watch his son play. That was nice.”
Big Red will face a dauting task this week as the team is set to play three games in three days from Tuesday through Saturday with all three games being on the road.
“This is the first time in my 23 as coach that we will play three games in a row,” Coach Bowers said. “We are building a little bit of depth, and that is encouraging. We’re developing each week.”
Big Red played the game with heavy hearts following the death of retired teacher, assistant baseball and assistant football coach Joe Pierro, who died Friday.
“He knew Cole and Landon,” Coach Bowers said. “He was a great friend. He has had some family on the team. He has had some nephews. He truly was a great guy. He was a great gentleman. He was a great friend, teacher and coach. He was as good a person as everyone has said. He asked me about our soccer team and our season.”
Big Red is scheduled to play oak Glen at 6:30 p.m. today on the road, Cambridge at 6 p.m. Wednesday on the road and Beaver Local at 6 p.m. Thursday on the road. Big Red will cap the week by playing John Marshall at 11 a.m. Saturday on the road.
The game between Big Red and the Bobcats was originally slated to be played Aug. 22, however, the game was postponed due to inclement weather.
Tri-Valley is set to play River View at 7 p.m. tonight on the road.