HIGH SCHOOL SOCCER: TIGERS ROAR INTO DISTRICT TITLE CONTEST

JACKSON, Mo. -- According to coach Tom Doyle, his Cape Girardeau Central Tigers "survived" their soccer match against the Hillsboro Hawks to advance to the finals of the Class 4A, District 1 Tournament.

The No. 1 seeded Tigers (14-7-3) knocked off the No. 4 seeded Hawks (6-12-4) 3-1 at the Jackson Soccer Complex on Monday afternoon.

Central will face the winner of today's semifinal game between No. 2 Jackson (13-4-2) and No. 3 Poplar Bluff on Thursday at 3:30 p.m.

Hillsboro reached the semifinal round via a 4-3 comeback win over No. 5 seed Farmington. The Hawks were down 3-0 at the intermission.

If the Tigers just "survived", they did it in dominating fashion. An unofficial count of shots-on-goal had Cape Central ahead by about 25 to 6.

"They were basically just packing it in, filling as much of the penalty area as they could," said Doyle. "They were just trying to keep us from scoring."

Considering Hillsboro's soccer program is only in its fourth year, the strategy they chose was probably best.

"I knew Cape was going to be a strong team," said Hillsboro coach Chris Schacht. "I thought I prepared my guys mentally, but physically I didn't think we could keep up with their speed and experience."

While piling up the shots, it took a penalty kick from Cape Central's Eric Daume about midday through the first half to get the Tigers on the board. The 1-0 score stood for the remainder of the first half.

Hillsboro knotted the score at 1-1 on a goal by Darren Romriell from an assist by Joel Bradley at about the 50-minute mark.

The Tigers responded five minutes later when Jon Mark Thompson netted a nice bicycle kick on an assist from Cody Hill.

A corner kick helped set up the Tigers' final goal, as Paul Miller assisted Thompson on a wild scramble in front of the net. Thompson's goal came with approximately 15 minutes left in the game to put Cape Central ahead 3-1.

Tiger goalie Trevor Blattner preserved the lead by swatting away Hillsboro's final shot with a stellar save. The shot, ticketed for the upper right corner, was speared by Blattner. It proved to be the Hawks' final gasp.

Looking forward to Thursday's match, Doyle said, "We've played for the district championship many times. It's not like we're going to get the jitters, but obviously we'll have to play better than we did today."