The McIntosh Chiefs boys soccer team continued their dominant start to the season with a resounding 7-0 victory over defending GIAA 4A state champions Saint Anne Pacelli High School on Wednesday night in Columbus.
The Chiefs have now won their first three games of the season while keeping clean sheets and have outscored their opponents by a combined score of 14-0. Against Pacelli, the Chiefs were the superior side, outpacing them in shots 23 to 3. McIntosh also had 15 shots on target compared to just 1 for Pacelli.
The Chiefs pressed the Pacelli backline into mistakes. Quickly, the Vikings were under siege, leading to the first goal, where Gabe Mawanda passed the ball back from the corner on the left side to Lamaras Blue, who hit a hard-knocking shot that fooled the Viking goalkeeper as it went past him into the goal.
Before Pacelli could regain composure, the Chief’s struct again for the second goal in the 7th minute of the match when Gabe Mawanda once again beat several of the Pacelli defenders down the side and played a pin-point accurate pass from the byline across the six-yard box to defender Amon Tomaro rushing in on the backside of the play.
Tomaro finished the shot high in the right corner of the goal. With 18:30 left in the first half, the Chiefs showed their quality when defender Amon Tomaro played a high long ball to Chiefs forward Liam Newton-Smith, who held off both Viking center back and chest the ball down in the path of Aaron Ajie, who hit a looping shot over the defenders into the upper corner of the right side of the goal to put the chiefs up 3-0. Aaron Ajie has scored in every game for the Chiefs so far.
The fourth goal came late in the first half. Ben Guymon rushed in after a shot from Aaron Ajie was blocked and scored from the top of the 18-yard box with a first-time finish in the bottom right corner with 3:29 left in the half.
The second half was the same as the Chiefs came out hard. Just seven minutes in the half, once again, the Chief’s “Maestro” Gabe Mawanda conducted a thing of beauty, playing a perfect pass to defender Carson Candella, who made an inverted run into the box, finishing the shot past the Pacelli keeper eight minutes into the half.
With 18 minutes to go, the Chiefs pressed the Vikings into clearing a ball to defender Luke White; he played a first-time pass to the feet of Liam Newton-Smith, who turned his defender and hit a low shot past the goalkeeper into the bottom right corner from 15 yards away.
With 8 minutes remaining, Ben Guymon plays a very accurate 45-yard ball over the top of the Pacelli defense to an on-running Gabe Mawanda, who once again plays a perfect pass to on-rushing left winger Nico Moreano, who shoots first time past the goalkeeper from 14 yards away.
The Chiefs played a total of 22 players in the match; Chiefs coach Bunky Colvin praised the hard-working Chiefs for their high press defense and improved passing in the match.
Colvin said, “It was great to see everyone play tonight and keep the quality of play high all night.” The Chiefs are back in action Tuesday at highly touted LaGrange High. McIntosh will be hard to beat with their stifling defense and scoring capabilities. — Story from the Fayette County School System.
