CLARKSVILLE — Host Providence cruised in the opening round of the Class A Providence boys’ soccer sectional against Lanesville on Monday and will face the Silver Creek Dragons in Wednesday night’s sectional semifinal.

Pioneer forward Pierce Crawley scored all six goals for his squad, a 6-2 winner over the Eagles (5-7-1). In the nightcap, the Dragons outlasted Rock Creek Academy 2-1 on the Providence soccer field, which became increasingly sloppy from the heavy rain that fell all night.

Game time at Providence on Wednesday for the Silver Creek-Providence semifinal is 5 p.m. The second semifinal at 7 p.m. will have defending sectional champion Christian Academy facing North Harrison.



PROVIDENCE-LANESVILLE

Even Pioneers’ coach Brandon Rogers was impressed with Crawley’s outburst, and he couldn’t recall the last time someone had notched a double hat trick in a sectional match.

“It’s been awhile since that’s happened in a sectional,” Rogers said. “I really have to give credit to the rest of the team, though. They set Pierce up very good. He did finish, but without the rest of the team it wouldn’t have happened.”

Crawley’s final goal came in the 44th minute and was unassisted. But he was set up twice by Andrew Wimp, twice by Roman Arvizu and once by John “Tater” Murray.

Andrew Kennedy scored two goals late for Lanesville, but the match had long been decided by that point.

Lanesville goalkeeper Kevin Schulze made several nice stops of Providence (8-5-2) shot attempts, but the Pioneer onslaught was too hard to stop.

“The biggest thing is we were able to possess the ball,” Rogers said. “It’s something we’ve been working on pretty hard over the last few weeks. We were able to do it, even with the sloppy conditions.”



SILVER CREEK-ROCK CREEK

The steady rain that fell throughout the opening match softened the field a bit and made the night match between the Dragons (9-7-1) and Lions (6-8-1) a slugfest.

Jacob Atkins, a freshman forward, gave Silver Creek a 1-0 lead at the 22:35 mark when his shot in close went to left net past Rock Creek goalkeeper Jeremiah Wilkinson.

For much of the remainder of the matchup, the action was at midfield as both squads attempted to navigate the muck that was left behind by the heavy rain.

“It was a well-fought match,” Dragon coach Colin Bell said. “Things got a little sloppy out here, but it was good to get out of here with a win.”

Rock Creek, behind physical attackers Ronald Karenzi and Gedeon Nzombi, began challenging the Silver Creek net and goalkeeper John Osterhoudt. Karenzi got a breakaway at the 54th minute and sent a driving kick past Osterhoudt to tie the match at one.

The Rock Creek attack resulted in several shot attempts from the likes of Karenzi, Nzombi and Will Brown immediately afterward. But Osterhoudt stopped a few and the Rock Creek offense narrowly missed a few others.

The Dragons responded at the 70:14 mark, when Jeff Grady’s boot got past Wilkinson off an assist from Atkins.

“We knew it’d be tough, they’re a big physical team, and our boys came out and played enough to win,” Bell said.

Of Atkins, Bell said, “He’s really grown into his role. I’m expecting really big things out of him the next three years. But I was really impressed with how he and all the other kids responded tonight [after the Karenzi goal]. To beat Providence, it’s going to take good, smart, fundamentally-sound soccer, which is basically how we played.”



PROVIDENCE 6, LANESVILLE 2

Lanesville (5-7-1)    0 2—2

Providence (8-5-2)    5 1—6

Statistics

    Lanesville — Goals: Andrew Kennedy 2; Saves: Kevin Schulze 14; Providence — Goals: Pierce Crawley 6; Assists: Roman Arizu 2, Andrew Wimp 2, John Murray; Saves: Jeff Wiles 4.

    Shots on goal: Providence 12, Lanesville 5.



SILVER CREEK 2, ROCK CREEK 1

Rock Creek (6-8-1)    0 1—1

Silver Creek (9-7-1)    1 1—2

Statistics

    Rock Creek — Goals: Ronald Karenzi; Saves: Jeremiah Wilkinson 5; Silver Creek — Goals: Jacob Atkins, Jeff Grady; Assists: Jacob Atkins; Saves: John Osterhoudt 6.

    Shots on goal: Rock Creek 7, Silver Creek 11.