Kickers boot Jacksonville

Despite outshooting Jacksonville 7-3 in the first half, the varsity boys soccer team connected on two goals in the second to pull out a 2-0 victory in the Tomato Bowl last Friday.

With both teams playing aggressively and racking up the fouls, the game remained scoreless until 7:21 left in the contest. Coming out of halftime, Coach Chris Clemons made a few adjustments in his starting lineup, and it payed off when Caleb Jacque received the ball at the top of the 18-yard box. He made two quick moves and sent a rocket into the corner of the net, giving Whitehouse the 1-0 lead.

Less than two minutes later, Troy Coffee received the ball at midfield and made a quick touch to an overlapping Howard Rodriguez who was off to the races. He got past the Jacksonville defense and went one-onone with their keeper and put the ball around him for the final goal of the game.

The defense played a big part in the win, including goalie Justin Parker earning his sixth shutout of the season as the Cats improved to 6-2-2.

In the junior varsity game, Whitehouse put its "A" game on the field and controlled the entire game. They started the scoring with 6:37 remaining in the half when Wes Holt took the ball from a Jacksonville player and passed to Colton Strother who found Trey McNeel wide open. McNeel shot and scored, giving the Cats the 1-0 halftime lead.

McNeel again was able to get on the board 10 minutes into the second half on a successful breakaway, putting Whitehouse up 2-0.

With 2:47 remaining in the game, Daniel Peek got past the defense and put the ball in the net for Whitehouse's final score.

Keeper Travis Lowthorp was looking for his first shutout win of the season, only to have that possibility spoiled with seven seconds left as Jacksonville got a shot off through a myriad of players that somehow found the net, making the final score 3-1.

-- Reported by Mark Hays