OCA three-peats as ISC soccer champions
Make it a threepeat for the Oakwood Christian Academy Middle School soccer team.
The Eagles capped a perfect 10-0 campaign with their third consecutive ISC championship on Thursday, scoring twice in each half to double up visiting BoydBuchanan, 4-2.
Head coach Tony Vona called the accomplishment “special”.
“Things like this don’t happen often, but when they do happen it’s hard to express in words,” Vona said. “The first (championship) we won at Boyd-Buchanan and I didn’t coach last year. But this time was completely different for me because we had 10 sixth graders on the team and it was extra special for me because
The Oakwood Christian Lady Eagles got balanced scoring on Thursday night and defeated Apostolic of Maryville (Tenn.), 48-31, for their first victory of the 2017-18 season.
Annika Green had a dozen points and a team-high 11 rebounds to go with four assists and three steals for OCA, while Lexie Asher also dropped in 12 points, adding four assists and three rebounds. Grayson Broadrick added nine points in the win, followed by Mary Ownby with six.
One night later, Asher had 12 points and Broadrick poured in 11 as the Lady Eagles moved to 2-1 with a 40-25 win at Knoxville Christian.
Annika Green had nine points, nine rebounds and blocked four shots. Lily Green added four points, while Ownby and Ashley Keith had two points apiece.
The Oakwood varsity boys fell to 0-3 on the season after dropping both of their games this past week.
On Thursday, they lost 65-35 to an athletic Maryville squad. Woody Hass had 13 points to pace OCA, which trailed 37-19 at halftime. He also added five rebounds. D.J. Terry and Garrison Baggett had seven points each, while Phillips Davis pulled down eight rebounds.
Then on Friday, the Eagles fell 54-45 at Knoxville Christian.
OCA trailed 22-17 at halftime, but fought my daughter plays on the team, so I got to coach her for the first time.”
The Eagles advanced to the finals with a 5-0 semifinal victory over Silverdale Baptist on Tuesday. Tomo Gilchrist had four goals, while Hunter Hickman found the net once.
Price Ray and John McDonough combined for another shutout in net.
Then in the championship match, Gilchrist added to his team-leading goal total by finding the net twice in the first half, staking OCA to a 2-0 lead at the break.
However, the Bucs keyed heavily on Gilchrist in the second half while their offense spent a good deal of time on the Eagles’ side of the pitch.
Boyd would score twice in the second half, once with exactly 20 minutes to play and again with 12:46 to go, but each time OCA would answer back.
Noah Renshaw made it 3-1 with 13:43 left, hammering home a ball in the box after the Bucs failed to clear it away.
Later, after the Bucs sliced the gap down to 3-2, a furious scramble in front of Boyd’s goal finally came to an end as Kyle Brooks volleyed home what turned out to be the final goal of the night with 11:20 remaining.
“We put a lot of pressure on the ball,” Vona said. “Our midfield just worked hard and kept pressing. They were double-teaming Tomo, which made it a little difficult, but it opened up the wings a little bit and that’s how we got a couple of our goals. Boyd-Buchanan is a good team and they really came here ready to play.”
Ray got the win in net for the Eagles.
“It’s all about them,” Vona added about his team. “They performed and did the work that they were supposed to do every day in training, so this is a special situation for me as coach.
“When you have a team with 10 sixth graders put in an effort like they did this season, it’s a special group.”
back to tie the score at 35 at the end of the third quarter.
Baggett had a careerhigh 24 points to go with 12 rebounds, three assists and three steals. John Jacob McSpadden added 10 points, seven rebounds, four assists and five steals, while Andrew Phillips had nine points, four boards, two steals and two assists.
Terry added seven points. Davis had two points, six rebounds and an assist, while Tyler Epperson finished with two points, three rebounds and a steal.
The Eagles pulled down 35 boards and had 13 steals a team.