HIGH SCHOOL: TIGER GUNSLINGER SHOOTS DOWN ND

The Cape Central Tigers rode the brilliant shotmaking of Jon Mark Thompson to a 5-3 soccer win over crosstown rival Notre Dame Bulldogs at Notre Dame High School on Wednesday.

Thompson's "hat trick" was the difference as the Tigers (13-7-3) avoided a series sweep at the hands of the Bulldogs (16-7-1). Notre Dame had won the previous two games.

Notre Dame's coach Brad Wittenborn said, "I thought it was a very good game. I thought both teams played well, but I thought we played better, to be honest. But they made some plays. John Mark Thompson hit a couple of tremendous shots."

With about 250 evenly divided fans in attendance, the game lived up to its expectations.

It was a spirited, hotly contested and well-played match between two teams that have earned the top seeds in their respective districts for postseason play.

Thompson, dribbling through the middle of the Notre Dame defense, put the Tigers up 1-0 at the five-minute mark of the first half with an unassisted goal on their first shot attempt.

With 21 minutes gone in the first half, Thompson scored again to increase the Tigers' lead to 2-0.

Notre Dame closed the gap to 2-1 on a Tyler Cuba goal on an assist from Scott Wittenborn with four minutes to go in the first half.

The Bulldogs' only senior, Nick Kampfer, knotted the score at 2-2 on a header from an assist by Tim Buerck with 17 minutes gone in the second half.

"We had a real good chance to fold tonight," said Cape Central coach Tom Doyle. "We're up 2-0, then they come back to tie."

But the Tigers responded at the 20-minute mark of the half when Chris Cole scored to break the tie and send Cape Central up 3-2.

Then, with Notre Dame putting the pressure on, it was Thompson again on a beautiful scissors kick into the back of the net to give Cape Central a little breathing room at 4-2.

"We were just on tonight," said the Tiger center-halfback Thompson. "No one could stop us, I don't think. It was a good moral victory for us, too."

Cape Central tacked on one more score when Chris Jones assisted on a Matt Davis goal with 15 minutes left in the game.

Notre Dame's Scott Wittenborn, one goal shy of the school's season scoring record, closed out the scoring on his 22nd of the year to make the final 5-3.

"If someone had asked me before the game if we would score five goals against Notre Dame, I'd have said 'no way'," said Doyle.