Published: January 12, 2009 07:35 am      

Indians boot Beaumont Ozen 5-0 in season opener

By Jay Neal

sports@jacksonvilleprogress.com

KILGORE — The Jacksonville Indians dominated every facet of their soccer game while appearing to be in mid-season as they blanked Beaumont Ozen 5-0 in the first round of the Kilgore Tournament on Friday afternoon.

Everything came up roses for the Tribe — every player that made the trip to R.E. St. John Memorial Stadium saw action, four Indians (1-0) scored goals, both goalkeepers played a half and ended up with a clean sheet, and first-year Jacksonville head coach Randy Hammontree won his first game as the Indians’ mentor. Hammontree, who is beginning his 10th season of coaching soccer at the varsity level, came to Jacksonville from Grand Prairie High School

Blake Glass got the Jacksonville scoring started by driving a short-range shot in off the left side that Panther goalie Estaban Saurez misread. The shot came with 17:16 to play in the opening half .

The Tribe took full advantage of Ozen (0-1) being short handed — several Panther regulars were missing due to academic issues — with much of the game being played in front of the Ozen keeper as the Tribe out-shot the Panthers 26-2 in the game.

Aaron Tranthom made a highlight reel-like sliding shot from about five yards out that beat Saurez to put Jacksonville in front 2-0 with 13:33 left in the first half.

The Indians had four additional shots on goal in the first after Tranthom’s score, but were unable to do further damage.

Daniel Posada worked the net for the Tribe in the first half and recorded a save in the lone shot on goal that came his way from an Ozen forward.

Daniel Forry, the Indians’ leading scorer in preseason, tacked on the third Tribe point at 18:33 of the second half by putting a hot-foot move on the Panther keeper from about 10 yards out and then slipping the ball into the back of net.

About four minutes after, Arturo Garcia drilled a corner kick into the side of the net for the Fightin’ Indians that extended the Jacksonville bulge to 4-0.

Glass put the exclamation point on the victory by burying the ball into the Panther net from short-range in the final minute of play on an assist by Elias Silva that accounted for the final Jacksonville point. Glass led the Tribe in shooting, hitting two goals on five attempts, and Garcia had one goal on four tries.

The Indian defenders — Jeff Landrum, Cesar Trujillo, Rolando Alvarez and Garcia — gave a good showing of themselves as Ozen was able to launch just two shots in the game.

Eliezer Cerrezo handled goalkeeping duties in the second half, stopping the only shot that he encountered in the eighth minute of play.

“We knew this could get ugly when we found out they (Ozen) were missing (several) of their regulars,” Hammontree said. “But, our guys played well and everyone got in the game and some experience for us.

“We had a couple of guys (Forry and Juan Sotelo) that received ankle injuries, so hopefully they will be OK,” he said.



Jacksonville 5, Ozen 0

Beaumont Ozen (0-1) 0 0 -0

Jacksonville (1-0) 2 3 -5

Scoring summary

1-17:16-Jax.-Blake Glass (game winning goal), 0-1

1-13:33-Jax- Aaron Tranthom, 0-2

2-18:23-Jax- Daniel Florry, 0-3

2-14:38-Jax-Arturo Garcia, 0-4

2-00:42-Jax-Blake Glass (Elias Silva assist), 0-5

SOG CK PEN

Beaumont Ozen 2 0 5

Jacksonville 26 5 5

Next game — both teams continue tournament play through Saturday.