Warrior soccer wins season opener against Jamestown

The White County High School boys’ soccer team opened their season with a 5-0 on the road against Jamestown.

The Warriors took the lead early with a goal inside the first five minutes of the match. Santiago Valencia took a shot from outside of the penalty area to push WCHS ahead 1-0.

Freshman Mason LaLonde scored his first of two goals on the night midway through the first half which gave the Warriors a 2-0 lead that they took into halftime.

“The boys worked hard in the first half, but we left a little out there,” soccer head coach Drew Haston said. “They set a goal to push the throttle down in the second half and did a great job to achieve that.”

Sophomore Joi Stepp scored the third goal of the night around three minutes into the second half. LaLonde followed soon afterward with his second, and Dante Garcia made sure there was no chance of missing out on another goal as he pushed across a shot from freshman Ashton Randolph finishing the goal scoring total at five.

TJ Dodd was goalkeeper for the night to complete the clean sheet.

“It was good to see them work.” Haston said. “We have about 16 underclassmen and a few of those have never played, so it’s good to see them slowly come together as a team.”

Four of the five goals by Sparta came from underclassmen, which Haston said is exciting for the upcoming season and beyond.

“We know that we are young and inexperienced at the high school level and that there will be a learning curve with that.” Haston added. “ It’s exciting to see what this team is capable of when they play together and in the style that we are aiming to play with.”