A historic soccer season for the Todd County Central Rebels added another chapter Saturday evening. The Rebels scored two goals in the first 5:30 of their 4th Region All A championship match against Russellville and that would be more than enough as Todd Central claimed the regional title with a 6-0 win over the Panthers.
The Rebels will now advance on to the sectional round of the All A Classic soccer tournament.
Grady Reding scored just 40 seconds into the match when his shot was deflected and then sailed over the Panther goalie as the Rebels quickly went up 1-0. Less than four minutes later, Aaron Mansfield drilled a shot from way out in front of the goal to extend the lead to 2-0.
The Panthers were able to contain the Rebels from that point until 35:30 when Tanner Henderson found the net from right in front of the goal to make it 3-0. Zack Robinson got in on the scoring when he found the net from deep at 37:50 to give the Rebels a 4-0 lead at the break.
Grady Reding scored his second goal of the night at 51:40 to run the lead out to 5-0. Cole Gilbert wrapped up the scoring for the Rebels at the 67:00 when he lasered a shot through a crowd of people and found the back of the net to make it 6-0.
In addition to the offensive attack, it was the Rebels’ defense again putting on a show. The shutout was the 9th of the season for Todd County Central.
Earlier in the day, the Rebels fought their way through a semifinal match against Glasgow. With the Scotties playing 8 or 9 players deep on defense, the match was scoreless at the half.
Just five minutes into the second half, the Rebels got an own goal when a pass from Aaron Mansfield was put into the net by the Scotties to put the Rebels up 1-0. Todd Central would seal the win scoring off a corner kick that Chris Salazar sent and Brett Harris finished to make it 2-0.
Jonah Rager came up huge for the Rebels in the win, finishing with four key saves in the match.
The Rebels will now travel to Owensboro next Saturday to face Owensboro Catholic in the sectional round of the All A Classic. The two teams met on August 13 and played to a 1-1 draw on the Aces home pitch.
