Hendersonville High senior Darius Campbell steps into a first-half shot amidst pressure from Portland junior Ryan Keith.
PORTLAND The Hendersonville High School boys soccer team is heading into its stretch run of the regular season by facing district foes in six of their final seven matches.
The Commandos are hoping their non-district schedule has prepared them for the remainder of the season.
“Obviously, any time you play somebody that’s of value, it’s going to help you down the road,” Hendersonville head coach Russ Plummer said. “We’ve seen a lot of different things, and hopefully, that’s putting us in the right direction.”
The Commandos cruised to their fourth consecutive victory with Tuesday evening’s 7-0 win at Portland.
Hendersonville High senior Austin Schmidle and Portland senior Kyle Brandt (7) battle for a 50-50 ball during first-half action.
Senior Owen Kalada scored the opening goal for Hendersonville seven minutes into the first half. Darius Campbell and Patrick Reed followed with a goal each. The Commandos ended the half with
consecutive goals from Cullum Howard to establish a 5-0 lead.
Howard scored his third goal of the contest early in second half, while Kyle Peterson added a goal with less than four minutes remaining.
Portland High sophomore Evan Decker (17) battles Hendersonville senior Ethan Salley for possession during first-half action.
“I thought the guys came in and took care of business,” Plummer said. “This is a tough place to play, and a district game is always important for us.
“We just need to take things game by game from here on out and try to do the best we can.”
Despite the loss, Panther head coach Cody Tucker was pleased with his team’s improvement in the second half, limiting Hendersonville to two goals.
Portland High senior Bryce Stone turns upfield after gaining possession during first-half action.
“Hendersonville’s always a quality team,” Tucker said. They’re a great program and tough to compete against. I told them I thought we stepped it up later in the game, but I felt like it took us a little bit to adjust to the physicality. We need to continue the physicality, and if we keep playing like we did in the second half tonight, we’ll be able to compete moving forward.”
With the win, Hendersonville improved to 7-4-2 overall and to 3-0 in District 9-AAA play, while Portland fell to 1-7 overall and to 0-4 in district play.