Soccer brings home program's first trophy

COFFEYVILLE -- The Fort Scott High School soccer team won its ninth and 10th games of the season here Saturday as the Tigers posted two shutout victories to win the Coffeyville Tornado Tournament for the first time ever.

The previous record for victories in a season was 7, which the Tigers had in 2004. Fort Scott has at least two matches remaining in its season. The last match of the regular season will be held at 4:30 p.m. today against Riverton at Lions Field. And the Tigers will almost certainly receive a top seed in the Regional playoffs, which will assure them of at least one home match in the post-season. That would also be a first for the program, which has never had a home playoff match.

Saturday's victories were a 1-0 shutout of Pittsburg in the semifinals and a 2-0 shutout of the host Golden Tornado in the finals.

The Tigers (10-5) scored their first goal of the day quickly as Josh Buller blasted a corner pass from Max McAllister into the goal just 45 seconds into the semifinal against Pittsburg. According to head coach David Gray, they had trouble passing the remainder of the match. But the defense, led by Chris Herman, Griffin Hulbert, Jordan Karleskint and Kurtis West played very well and goalkeeper Brett Allen, a freshman, posted his second consecutive shutout and school-record sixth of the season.

Allen extended his school shutout record in the final against Coffeyville, which didn't put up much of an offensive threat. After losing to the Tigers 10-0 last Thursday, the Nado packed nine defenders back on defense most of the match.

Fort Scott dominated offensively, Gray said, but Coffeyville's tight defense prevented a score until the second half. Chris McAllister got the Tigers on the board, converting a pass from Jason Trejo.

McAllister took an assist from brother Chris for the Tigers second goal.

Fort Scott is guaranteed to have its first winning season. Prior to this season, the best record was 7-10 in 2004.