Chestatee exploded for five goals in the second half, including three by Cristian Felix in a 10-minute span, en route to a 6-0 win over the Grangers at War Eagles Stadium.
The game was a featured matchup of the Chestatee offense against a stingy Grangers defense. It was a near stalemate in the first half. But the fourth-ranked War Eagles stayed patient and waited for the opportunity to pounce.
"They are very good defensively and we knew that," Chestatee coach Mike Herron said. "We came out a little slow but by the end of the first half we were moving the ball a lot quicker and that was the key."
Felix finished with the hat trick, the first of his career in the playoffs, to go with one assist and said if they can continue to duplicate the second half success he thinks they can go far.
"If we play the rest of the playoffs like we did in the second half, yea, I think we have a chance to go all the way," Felix said.
The six goals for Chestatee (17-2-0) was the most allowed by LaGrange (7-10-2) the entire season. The Grangers had given up more than two goals just twice until Wednesday.
The battle between the War Eagles offense and the Grangers defense dominated the entire first half. Chestatee would produce four corner kicks and three direct kicks within the first 12 minutes but could not break through.
Chestatee had a two minute stretch it peppered starting LaGrange keeper Michael Coffman with four shots. The last one resulted in Coffman getting a red card for using his hands outside the goal box and being ejected from the game with 31:20 left in the first half.
Chestatee's first near-goal came with 29:30 when Zico Rebollar's header off a pass from Edwin Villafranco hit the crossbar and bounced out. The War Eagles had two more chances 15 minutes later when Roldan Reyes chipped a ball into the box and Marco Rebollar and Felix both had point-blank range shots stopped.
A minute later Jeremy Gross took a corner kick pass by Jose Nunez but his shot from 5-yards out was denied by the Grangers defense.
Chestatee kept up the offensive pressure and finally got rewarded when Reyes sliced a beautiful pass down the middle to Marco Rebollar, who slipped a shot under the right arm of a diving LaGrange keeper for a 1-0 lead with 7:05 left in the first half.
The Grangers' only real scoring threat came with just 50 seconds left in the half when James Hutton's 40-yard blast on a direct kick sailed just wide left.
Chestatee had seven corners and five direct kicks in the first half to no corners and just one direct kick for LaGrange.
In the second half the War Eagles wasted little time. Marco Rebollar netted his second goal of the game on a pass from Felix less than a minute into the half for a 2-0 lead.
LaGrange, which had kept seven or eight defenders back the entire first half, was forced to be more aggressive on offense. And it backfired.
The War Eagles counter-attacked with long runs and passes. Felix would get his first goal using an abbreviated bicycle kick on a pass from Arnold Gamez with 27:21 left and less than a minute later he tallied his second goal on a feed from Marco Rebollar for a 4-0 lead. Felix completed the hat trick knocking in a rebound on a deflection off a shot from Reyes with 17:01 left in the game.
"Cristian is a crafty player that finds ways to get the ball and score," Herron said. "I was extremely pleased with how we played in the second half."
Chestatee finished the scoring when Mauricio Morales booted in a penalty kick with 3:21 left.
Next up for the War Eagles will be the winner of the Northwest Whitfield-Grady context next Wednesday at Chestatee. A win for the War Eagles next week would put them into the quarterfinals for the first time in program history.
"Really we're just looking at the next game. Nothing more," Herron said. "But the kids know they have a chance to do something no other has done so I think they're focused on doing that."
Chestatee advanced to the second round of the Class AAAA soccer playoffs after taking a 6-0 win over LaGrange Wednesday.
http://accesswdun.com/article/2013/5/261109