GAME RECAP: Powell 1-6 Oak Ridge
In the Onrise Care High School Game of the Week, the Wildcats put their teeth into the Panthers on the road.
In a battle of the cats, the Oak Ridge Wildcats (7-1-2) notched a key victory, 6-1, on the road at the Powell Panthers (3-4-1) to continue their undefeated AAA-District 3 campaign.
For the opening 15 minutes, both teams looked evenly matched and kept the ball in midfield. Defenders contained breakaways from either side. Players on both sides demonstrated impressive technique, with Powell moving the ball well in the air and on long passes.
Oak Ridge soon flexed its power, however, taking hefty shots just off the mark in the 8th and 16th minutes. Quickly, the Wildcats began to power their way past Powell’s defense, resulting in a flurry of goals in quick succession.
At 18 minutes, senior forward Sebastian Selas-Vaca found a pass outside the left corner of the box, where he hit a line drive to the upper right side of the net. Three minutes later, senior midfielder Sam Vogeley stood at the right post to receive a corner from the left side, which he headed in just over the keeper.
Selas-Vaca scored another in the 25th minute, tapping in a corner from the right side. He collected his hat trick in the 33rd minute.
Despite the score, the Panthers’ goalkeeper Elian Hernandez—one of only two seniors on the varsity roster—demonstrated immense grit on the field. Returning from an MCL sprain, he jumped and dove to save numerous shots in the penalty area, including one major sequence between Selas-Vaca’s second and third goals that included four shots within a minute.
A light drizzle appeared intermittently at halftime, though it hardly affected the teams. In the second half, the hosts sought to stop the bleeding and changed formations to a 4-4-2 Diamond. Generally, Powell was able to maintain better defensive control on their side of the field, though it struggled to put together consistent attacking sequences.
Junior defender Cameron Rogers offered important leadership on the back line. He recently traveled to Tampa with the One Knox USL Academy squad. Sophomores Yojan Galves and Manjue Kromah tried to work downfield but had difficulty facing the Wildcats’ size and speed.
In addition to Selas-Vaca, senior Dennys Flores and junior Eli Lynch in the midfield starred for Oak Ridge. Lynch played both sides of the pitch, battling to win possession near his goal, moving the ball downfield, and setting up shots on the opposite side.
Hernandez went down in the 66th minute, bringing sophomore Cameron McGinnis to the goal. Oak Ridge took advantage. Upon the restart, Selas-Vaca swiftly scored his fourth of the night. Lynch tallied one for himself the next minute, taking a pass from midfield at the left side of the box, then dribbling near the post and shooting across the net.
Powell fought hard for possession throughout the second half, but the closest chances to the net came off set pieces. The occasional yellow card and corner gave the Panthers opportunities, and they finally found their chance in the 70th minute with a penalty kick. Galves drilled it to the left to erase the Wildcats’ clean sheet.
Next week, Oak Ridge travels to Heritage on April 18 before facing district rival West on April 20 in a game that will likely decide the AAA-District 3 regular season champion. Powell hosts South-Doyle on April 18 before traveling to district foe Central on April 20.
The High School Game of the Week is brought to you by Onrise Care:
Onrise Care takes a team-based approach to delivering high-quality, compassionate mental health and athlete player care. Learn more at onrisecare.com or call 865-288-8970 to learn about their tele-psychiatry and other services."
Oak Ridge Head Coach Thomas Gorman
On execution of the game plan:
“The last four matches we’ve had with them have been one-goal matches, so we came in hopefully being able to weather the storm. Typically, they’ve gotten the first goal and we’re having to try and battle back. So we wanted to get a fast start, make sure we didn’t make any mistakes. I really liked how we played the first half; it’s probably the best 40 minutes that we’ve had. We’ve just got to take that and watch it on film and see that’s how we have success.”
On first-half performance:
“We knew they came out in the formation that usually gives us trouble. We were hoping we would be able to get them out of that a little bit, and fortunately we were able to get that early goal. Then our left wing, Sebastian [Selas-Vaca], just had a fantastic first half. He was able to win his one-on-one battles and was able to get a couple of goals in there. That was able to set us up for success.”
Powell Head Coach Chris Thorson
On half-time adjustments:
“We tried to play 3-5-2. Our wingers just aren’t dynamic enough. So we ended up in that second half switching to 4-4-2 diamond, and playing with those four midfielders very narrow. You could see we were more dynamic going forward and dangerous in the counterattack, and that’s how we were trying to play.”
On takeaways from the game:
“We’ve got a little bit of turnover: two seniors on the varsity squad, most of them are sophomores and a few of them are juniors. We got a couple of guys that we lost last year. The biggest goal for us was growth, some consistency. When you’re starting seven sophomores, you’re really just trying to see if you can gel. Are you going to learn from game to game? Early in the game we tried to limit the chances, and we did a fairly good job. But once they put that first goal on, you could see our heads drop a little bit.”