Sweetwater soccer picked up its second District 3-A win of the season emphatically on April 10, besting intra-county rival Tellico Plains 9-0.
The Wildcats (6-1-1) slid six goals across in the first half en route to an afternoon that saw seven Wildcats score in front of the Sweetwater student body.
“Two things that worked very well for our team were the passing and communicating with teammates,” Sweetwater coach Ricardo Torres said. “We wanted to possess the ball and play the ball as much as we can until we create some spaces to look for dribbles or penetrate with runs behind defenders.”
Justin Deaton and Bryce Teutimez finished the nights with braces while Jesus Guzman, Abram Torres, Javier Alvarez, Cy Prince and Cristian Contreras all scored.
“Our strikers did a lot better than the rest of the games. They capitalized more percentage of the chances we created more than other games,” Torres said.
Contreras’ goal was the first of the senior’s career.
“A lot of it is confidence. The confidence and effort they showed throughout the season and almost every game regardless of the score … they keep fighting til the last minute,” Torres said. “What I expect from them is to keep doing the same thing. Hopefully, we will score more goals and more wins.”
On the other side of the field was a coach well-familiar with his opposition. Miguel Ovalle — a Sweetwater graduate and a former assistant under Torres — has been leading Tellico’s dive into the sport.
The Bears (1-3) have only played four games this season.
“They were very optimistic going into the game. By halftime, we were down by so many goals,” Ovalle said. “Like I told them beforehand, Sweetwater has had a program for a while now and they have been around the sport of soccer with the junior high and the funnel programs.
“It was a huge gap in skill level compared to Sweetwater and Tellico.”
Tellico has had success in its infancy. The program holds a win over Chattanooga Central and scored twice against Sequoyah in the week prior.
“Honestly, what I want to see is growth overall as a whole. Growth in the midfield, the defensive half and on offense,” Ovalle added. “We have to learn how to walk before we can run. They will be there at some point but, as of right now, we have to learn how to walk.
“This is only the fourth game we have played all season. I think we will get to the point where we can get another win.”
For Tellico, the next step is holding Wednesday’s result from being a deterrent in a community looking to back the sport while Sweetwater has taken a team to the state tournament in the previous five seasons.
“As the season goes by, there will be growth and they will be able to capture what is expected of them going further in the season with how they play,” Ovalle said. “They are very optimistic and they still want to give it their all. We can only go up from here, grow together as a team and develop the sport a little more.”
Ovalle was an assistant coach on the 17 win Sweetwater team that reached the 2019 Class A state quarterfinals, coaching under Torres.
“It is nice just to see friends and faces throughout the road. It is nice to see people in different positions and seeing them growing up,” Torres said. “The support we received from the school, parents and students was amazing today. It was very nice seeing more people supporting our team.
“In our community, that is what makes a difference. I thank everybody for the support.”
T 0 0 — 0
S 6 3 — 9
Scoring
S: Justin Deaton 2, Bryce Teutimez 2, Javier Alvarez, Cristian Contreras, Jesus Guzman, Cy Prince, Abram Torres
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