GAINESVILLE — The Gainesville boys soccer team battered Villa Rica on Tuesday, producing its second most lopsided victory of the season and most dominating playoff scoreline in at least seven years.
And the Red Elephants did so only showing flashes of their potential.
"The first 10 minutes (of the first half) and the first 20 minutes (of the second half); that's when I saw it -- that's how we have to play, and we played really well in those periods," said Gainesville coach Rick Howard after his team routed the Wildcats 7-0 in the first round of the Class AAAAA playoffs at City Park.
(NOTE: Four area teams won in the first round of the playoffs on Tuesday. For a complete list of scores and first round schedule, click here.)
"Tonight was very good, but there were times we didn't keep the tempo up. When we did it was great. We have a lot of potential, and it's a tribute to these guys that we're starting to click now. We've worked so hard this season."
That hard work was evident from the start, as Gainesville pinned Villa Rica back via a combination of running and passing before taking a 1-0 lead 12 minutes into the contest. The Red Elephants added two more strikes in the first half before turning on the style after halftime, scoring four goals in the 20 minutes immediately following the restart.
Six different Gainesville players got on the scoresheet, including two strikes for Diego Porras and one each for Armando Hernandez, Jose Ortiz, Dunio Turcios, Christian Rodriguez and Edwin Garcia.
"Everyone on this team loves to score; look at our backs -- even our backs are attackers that are playing at back," Howard said. "And we want to play two-touch, flowing soccer. We can't slow the ball up and be pedestrian; we've been hammering that."
The 10th-ranked Red Elephants (12-5) picked an opportune time display that ability -- and know they will most likely have to do so further as they are set to take on No. 1-ranked McIntosh in the second round (providing the Chiefs defeat Hardaway in the first round).
"(To defeat McIntosh) it's going to take how we played tonight early in the second half plus 50 percent more effort," Howard said. "They're good, organized and strong. But we should be confident. We're a good team, and these guys work their tails off."
Certainly Tuesday's opponents had to be impressed. The Wildcats (11-6-1) found themselves under pressure from the start and fought to keep themselves in the contest with solid defending and long outlet balls.
But it wasn't enough to derail the Red Elephants, and Hernandez capitalized on Gainesville's quick start, using his speed to make the most of a slick move between Porras and Garcia, the pair working a give-and-go through the heart of the Villa Rica defense. A Wildcat defender did poke the ball away via a last-ditch tackle -- but it rolled perfectly to Hernandez, who lashed a 16-yard effort into the Villa Rica goal with 28:40 left in the first half.
The strike capped a period of domination over the opening minutes, as Porras spearheaded the attack -- though the Red Elephants also experienced a few scary moments in defense in the first half. In fact the closest Villa Rica came to scoring followed a looping Wildcats pass that ended with Gainesville goalkeeper Sergio Mondragon colliding with teammate Erick Serratos inside the Red Elephants penalty area.
Gainesville managed to scramble the ensuing loose ball clear, however, and the mix-up seemed to serve as a wake-up call for the Red Elephants, who doubled their lead just minutes later.
This time Ortiz provided the finishing touch, curling a pass from Porras into the far corner after Gainesville's midfield dynamo spun beautifully through a Wildcat tackle to set up his teammate for a 2-0 lead with just over 18 minutes left in the half.
The Red Elephants continued to press the attack as the half waned and were rewarded just seconds before the interval when Villanel Albarran lofted a back-post cross for Turcios -- which Turcios rose and headed powerfully into the Villa Rica net for a 3-0 lead.
Yet Gainesville was far from sated, with halftime the only thing to slow the Red Elephants' pace.
"We said at the half that we've got to up the tempo," Howard said. "(Villa Rica) is a good team, so we could not feel comfortable."
Gainesville's players followed instructions and stormed out of the locker room. Rodriguez and Garcia each struck inside the first 10 minutes of the second half to lead the Red Elephant runaway.
Rodriguez provided the first with off a low, driven cross that Garcia poked into the net just four minutes after the restart. Rodriguez then took his turn to score, making a sweet connection with a perfectly-weighted cross from Turcios to head past a diving Matt Harvey for a 5-0 lead.
Still, Gainesville was not finished, however, and Porras finally got the goal he deserved with 26:56 remaining, slamming home a low, driven corner kick with his first touch to make it 6-0. The senior captain added a second strike five minutes later, making it 7-0 with 21:51 left to play.
"We're 1-0 now, and we want to be 5-0," Howard said. "We can't rest on our laurels; we haven't really done anything yet. Our road is pretty tough. But this was a good start."
Gainesville will take on the McIntosh/Hardaway winner on May 3, time to be determined.
