Steubenville Rolls On To Next Round vs. Zanesville
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STEUBENVILLE -- After battling to a draw with Harrison Central in the regular season finale last week, veteran Big Red boys soccer coach Greg Bowers told his team it was time to take care of business.
Take care of business his team did indeed.
Hosting Zanesville in the opening round of the OHSAA Division III, East District tournament, Big Red rolled to a 6-1 victory inside Harding Stadium Tuesday night to advance to the district semis.
"We came out fast, we played well," coach Bowers said. "We prepped well all week coming into this and came out and took care of business. Now we have to prep well again and be ready to go again next week.
"To play a home tournament game and have the student body here behind us, the kids were excited."
Big Red, the No. 2 seed in the bracket, scored two goals early in the opening half, then came out in the second half and put four more on the board before the sixth-seeded Blue Devils (5-13) broke the shutout late in the game.
Landon Bowers and Chase Beall both tallied a goal in the first half to make it 2-0 Big Red at halftime.
After the break, Steubenville (13-3-2) came out and turned the pressure up a notch and it resulted in Landon Bowers tacking on two more, before Beall added another and Cedric Peckins found the back of the net on a feed from Landon Bowers in a short span, leaving little doubt about the outcome.
"We told them that a 2-0 lead is a dangerous lead and getting that third and fourth one was important," coach Bowers said. "Once we got that, we settled in and were in control."
Landon Bowers finished with the hat trick and an assist, while Beall had two goals and two assists and Peckins and Tomas Lucas each added an assist.
In goal, JJ Lamantia made five saves and Brayden Hayes added three saves after coming in during the second half.
Zanesville's goal came from Mario Nguyen. Blue Devils keeper James McCandlish made 14 saves in the loss.
UP NEXT
Big Red will have a week off before hosting No. 3 seed New Philadelphia next Tuesday back inside Harding Stadium. The Quakers earned a 4-1 win over No. 5 seed Zanesville Maysville in their opening round game on Tuesday.
Steubenville and New Philly (9-6-2) did not meet in the regular season this year.