Oakwood Christian soccer team flying high with 3-0 start
The Oakwood Christian Eagles ran their record to 3-0 after a pair of wins last week.
On Thursday, OCA posted its third consecutive victory over Tennessee Christian Prep with a 6-1 triumph in Chickamauga.
The Hawks’ goal was bombarded by strikes from the Eagles almost from the opening whistle, but the home team didn’t get on the board until the 13th minute when senior Naoki Gilchrist fed Ryan Scarbrough for the first tally of the match. Scarbrough would find the net again six minutes later off a feed from freshman Tomo Gilchrist.
The OCA defense would preserve the 2-0 halftime lead as defenders Caleb Epperson, Sam Lewis, Andrew Phillips and Chase Heptinstall refused to allow TCPS a shot from inside the 18-yard box.
The Hawks would get on the board early in the first half, but any hopes of a comeback would be short-lived as the Eagles poured it on, starting with a Tomo Gilchrist goal in the 50th minute. Scarbrough would finish off his hat trick in the 61st minute and he would assist Gilchrist on the Eagles’ fifth goal shortly thereafter. Lewis would polish it off with his first goal in the 65th minute, while keeper Price Ray finished with 20 saves on the night for the hosts.
One night later, the Eagles hit the road for a match in Buford against an Old Suwanee Christian team that Oakwood beat, 3-2, in the season-opener on Aug. 16 and history would repeat itself as the Navy-and-Gold recorded a second consecutive 3-2 win over the Conquerors.
Oakwood would strike first in the 38th minute as Jarrett Chambers stole the ball and found Epperson, the center-midfielder, who sent a laser from midfield that rocketed past the Conquerors’ keeper and gave the Eagles a 1- 0 lead at intermission.
With Old Suwanee packing it in on defense in the second half, Oakwood’s Chase Lanham put a perfectly-placed chip shot just over the outstretched arms of the Conquerors’ keeper and into the net for a twogoal cushion.
Old Suwanee would answer a short time later to make it 2-1, but the Eagles would push their lead back to two goals as Scarbrough beat the defense and the keeper to make it a 3-1 score.
With the fatigue of two matches in 24 hours beginning to take its toll on OCA, the hosts pushed home a second tally, but it would be the final score of the night for either side as the back line of Heptinstall and Phillips, along with Caleb and Thomas Buckels and Ray, worked together to keep anything else from getting by. Ray finished the night with 16 saves.
The Eagles are off this week and will get back to action on Sept. 9 at TCPS in a rematch.