It was all celebrations for East Ridge Monday night as the Pioneers’ put seven past Polk County for their final home game of the regular season.
Coach Jeremy McIntyre challenged his team to score “fast and quick” and they did just that—opening the score sheet in the fourth minute.
Senior Domingo Tercero-Jacinto headed in a second chance ball after the keeper couldn’t hold on to the first shot. The number 10 never looked back, dominating the remainder of the game.
The Pioneers created a substantial lead early and stated running through substitutions and squad rotations as if they were frequent flyer miles. This made it hard to narrow down a single position for Tercero-Jacinto.
His best play came when he played on the wing and would drop into the half-space as a 10, just behind senior striker Alexandro Briseno. The pair left their fingerprints all over the game with 7 goal contributions between the two. Their chemistry with off-the-ball movements and one-two passing made Mario and Luigi look like estranged second cousins, twice removed.
East Ridge ran 3-4-3 with the two center midfielders running a double pivot to create depth in the middle. Serjio Loarca Lucas and Kevin Mejia occupied that space for the majority of the night. Their fearlessness while defending and composure when picking out a pass led to a no-fly zone the Wildcats had to respect all game.
Constant attacking pressure saw the Pioneers put three more past the keeper to stretch the lead to four at half time.
Every attack came from the same basic recipe of build the play up through the middle and then use overlapping runs to stretch the field and create space for the passer to drop into for the return ball.
At the break, coach Jake Carroll of Polk County switched his formation from a back three to a back four to help try to regain control in the midfield. His main adjective being to slow down Briseno and Tercero-Jacinto by having the extra man track the runner on the one-twos.
Despite this tweak, the Wildcats weren’t able to keep up with shifty movements of East Ridge and, as a result, chased the ball all game.
Polk County—never really creating more than a couple of half-chances on breakaways near the beginning of the second half—weren’t able to threaten East Ridge offensively.
This led to a second half that mirrored the first, as East Ridge dominated possession and created a plethora of chances—putting away three more en route to a 7-0 win on senior night.
The Pioneers celebrated eight seniors after the game, giving recognition to their perseverance during the Covid-19 pandemic.
The true stars of the game sat pitch-side—curled up in blankets with their phones out and their voices strong.
Every senior took time to recognize their parents and family for supporting them in sports and so many other areas. They were met with balloons and cheers as they looked beyond Monday night’s victory and pointed to how they could achieve further success because of their family’s sacrifice and support.
McIntyre expressed his gratitude as well, before petitioning for their support one more time as East Ridge heads to Hixson Thursday for their first district playoff match.
Scoring Summary
East Ridge 4 3 – 7
Polk County 0 0 – 0