The DeKalb County soccer team claimed their second consecutive district 8-AA  title beating  out Central Magnet 2-1.
The Tigers hosted the opening game of the district tournament at home on Monday evening against The Smith County Owls. The Tigers walked away with an easy victory, crushing the Owls 6-1, keeping their play-off hopes alive.
In the opening minutes of play, it was clear that DeKalb was determined to give the Owls everything they had as the Tigers dominated possession 60 percent to the Owls’ 40 percent in the first half.
With the Tigers in control of possession for most of the half, they had their chances at goal.  At the 10-minute mark, the Tigers broke down the back line of the Owls and took the ball to the 18-yard box where Brandon Leiser took a shot that sailed high and hit the crossbar then rolled out of play for a goal kick.
As the defense for the Tigers continued to shut down the offensive attack of Smith County, the Tigers maintained their attacking form with Zach Taylor taking a shot from 30 yards out, but the keeper for the Owls was on top of it to clear the ball out.
The next chance at goal came in the form of a cross at the 16-minute mark as Luis Richards was down the sideline and crossed the ball into the middle of the field to Geovany Guzman who looked to score, but lost the ball to a Smith County defender.
After the ball was cleared by Smith County, it was DeKalb who grabbed back possession and made a run. Ben Pafford held the ball and beat three defenders  to take a path down the sideline and sent it down to awaiting Javier Sanchez, who would connect with a header. The shot looked good but the keeper got his hands on the ball to stop the ball from entering the goal.
Smith County had their first chance at goal at the 20-minute mark as the Owl’s mid-fielder sent a through ball to the right wing and broke away from the back-line. Driver would come out of goal and  force an early shot. Driver’s decision proved to be correct as the shot was easily corralled by the Tiger keeper.
Eli Lomas made his presence known when, at the 23-minute mark, he was given the ball and a clear lane to shoot. He did so with a powerful line-drive shot that drilled the left-side post, narrowly missing the back of  net for the first goal of the game.
After the shot from Lomas, the Owls dropped back, playing more defensively, which proved to be a smart decision. DeKalb couldn’t manage a scoring attempt again until Tiger mid-fielder Leiser, at the 32-minute mark, found a weak spot in the defense and took the ball inside of the 18-yard box and took a shot that would be stopped by the keeper.
Smith County broke past the defense of the Tigers at the 36-minute mark and took a shot that was deflected by Driver for a corner kick. On the corner attempt, Smith County sent the ball into the middle of the field where they took a shot that appeared to be stopped by Driver. With a different vantage point, the referee ruled that the ball crossed the line for a goal to make the score 1-0.
Now down 1-0, DeKalb marched down field and broke past the defense to find Sanchez in the 18-yard box. As he took the ball he was swarmed by three Owl defenders. Sanchez then crossed the ball to Leiser who put the ball in the back of the net to tie the game at one each and end the first half.
In the second half, the Tigers wasted no time as they scored in 30 seconds by way of Sanchez, who received a through ball from Richards.
Smith County looked to even the score up at the 13-minute mark.
They took a shot at Tiger keeper Driver who had to make a diving save. At the 22-minute mark, DeKalb found pay dirt again as Juan Torres got a ball from Sanchez and buried it in for the third goal for DeKalb. The Tigers never looked back and never let up as they poured on three more goals on their way to a blow-out victory, even having the back-up keeper Rust Storey score his first career goal at the 36-minute mark.
The Tigers’ scorers included  Sanchez with two. Torres, Pafford, Leiser and Storey all had one.
The DeKalb County soccer team also traveled to Central Magnet on Thursday to play for the District 8 A-AA Championship.
The Tigers won the game 2-1, bringing home a second consecutive title to DeKalb County.
Though his squad posted its worse season in the programs history, the Tigers came up big down the road and on the road as well, posting a 7-7-3 record on the season and a superb road record of 5-1-1.
The season had its ups and downs from heartbreaking losses to crushing defeats, like many teams. The Tigers showed their resilience and pushed through their sub-par season and have come out on top of the district as champions..