BOYS SOCCER
DERIDDER 7,
TIOGA 1

DERIDDER—Four goals in less than the first 20-minutes of the game propelled the DeRidder Dragons (20-9-1, 2-2 5-4A) soccer team to an easy first round playoff home victory Saturday afternoon. The Dragons defeated the Tioga Indians (4-12-2) 7-1.

“You really couldn’t tell a whole lot,” Dragons head coach David Wilber said. “Tioga played with a good attitude and good sportsmanship. We did what we needed to do to put the ball in the net.”

“This was our first ever playoff game in Tioga history,” Indians head coach Greg Kircher said. “I was real proud of them.”

Kircher said the Indians had five seniors, but most of the players will be coming back next year.
He called the playoff game a “learning curve.”

“That’s the idea,” Kircher said. “We came here to have fun and learn something.”

DeRidder had 20 shots on goal and Tioga had three-to-five shots on goal.

Alvais Coronel and Michael Miller each had three goals to lead the Dragons. Miller had two assists.

The first goal of the game came with 31:58 to play in the first half as Coronel scored from the left on a Collin Sandel assist. That gave DeRidder a 1-0 lead.

Miller scored the next goal with 27:01 to play in the first half also from the left side on a Justin Stromberg assist. That gave DeRidder a 2-0 lead.

Coronel scored yet again with 25:10 to play in the first half on a Miller assist to put the Dragons ahead 3-0.

With 21:53 to play in the first half, DeRidder went ahead 4-0 on a Miller goal. Nick Wilkes had the assist.

After DeRidder led 4-0, players who usually do not see as much action were able to get a lot of time in the game.

The backups finished the first half and played much of the time during the second half.
Before halftime, Tioga got on the board.

Elvis Jusufovic scored for Tioga on an A.J. Rothermel assist with 11:40 to play in the first half to cut DeRidder’s lead to 4-1.

Coronel scored on an assist from Miller to give DeRidder a 5-1 lead with 31:19 to play in the game, Miller scored on a Coronel assist with 29:23 to play in the game to increase DeRidder’s lead to 6-1 and Sandel scored on a Noah Coronel assist with 11:59 to play in the game to make it 7-1 in favor of DeRidder.

DeRidder goalie Micah Prudhomme gave up one goal and had three saves.

Miller was the goalie for the last 5-minutes for DeRidder.

Although Miller did not have any saves, some shots were in his direction, which went over the goal. Miller did not give up any goals.

Tioga goalie Mason DeNux had approximately 10 saves.

DeRidder is back in action for the second round of the playoffs at 6 p.m. Thursday against St. Michael’s. St. Michael’s will be the home team, but the location of the game is yet to be determined.