By Michael Lindsay
The Cumberland County Jet soccer team picked up a key District 6-2A victory Tuesday evening as they won at DeKalb County, 3-1.
“DeKalb has been lighting people up, so to come down to their field and get a win is impressive,” said Jet head coach Cub Whitson. “I’m very proud of how the boys played.”
After a back-and-forth start between the two, Cumberland County freshman Nikki Azzani broke through the right side of the Tiger defense and sent a pass in front of the net for Dominic Olson to finish, giving CCHS a 1-0 lead with 15:29 left in the opening half.
After assisting on the first goal, Azzani scored from straight on via a Gabriel Alva assist less than 5 minutes later to give the Jets a 2-0 lead.
“Nikki’s a freshman but doesn’t play like it,” Whitson said. “He’s got a load of skill and great vision.”
Cumberland County entered halftime with a 2-0 advantage. The Jets quickly pushed their lead out to 3-0 less than 4 minutes into the second half as Alva scored on a highlight-reel shot with 36:38 remaining.
“We know we’ve got firepower; we’ve not had our full squad playing together,” Whitson said. “We know when we get the right people in the right positions, they’re going to click and those goals are going to come.”
DeKalb County answered at the 32:05 mark with their lone goal of the evening as Cooper Brown found the back of the net to put the Tigers on the board trailing 3-1.
Brown’s goal was the lone blemish on Cumberland County’s defense Friday as CCHS keeper Jamie Perez and the Jet defense held the Tigers well below their season-scoring average.
“Jamie played great; I’m really proud of him,” Whitson said. “He had a lot of great saves. Everybody that played defense did a great job of executing the game plan.”
The victory is key for the Jets’ quest to clinch the top overall seed in District 6-2A.
“We still have a lot of soccer to play, obviously,” Whitson said. “But knowing how good they are this season makes it feel that much more urgent. I have a feeling we’re going to play DeKalb several times this season, and we want to show we’re going to bring it and play hard.”
Cumberland County is scheduled to host Upperman on Thursday while DeKalb County is slated to host White County in a pair of district matchups.
