By TODD FERTIG
TopSports.news
Shawnee Heights' soccer team used its speed and attacking style to post eight scores in the first half against Cair Paravel Latin Monday at the Bettis Family Sports Complex, taking an 8-0 non-league win.
Senior Camden Granado sliced through the Lions’ defense for four goals to lead the T-Birds.
The game gave the T-Birds a boost of confidence going into a match versus Topeka High on Thursday at Hummer Sports Park. For Class 2A Cair Paravel, it was a chance to challenge itself against a much bigger school.
Defeating Cair Paravel was another step in the journey for the T-Birds who bounced back with a win last Thursday over Free State after dropping the season opener at Washburn Rural.
“Opening with Rural, that was a pretty tough way to open the season,” Shawnee Heights coach Nic Simons said. “But we bounced back really well against a great Free State team, and it was great to see us come out tonight and kind of take care of some things and get things where we want going into Thursday against Topeka High.”
The Lions held Shawnee Heights off the board for the first five minutes of the game. But once Granado got rolling, the T-Birds took command. They netted four goals in the next nine minutes, three of them off the foot of the senior captain.
“To score as many goals as we did in the first half just gives us confidence in our offense,” Granado said. “I can’t take the credit because (my teammates) did great getting me the ball. We did great just making passes in order to move the ball up the field.”
“Some of the creativity on the offensive side of the field is kind of what I’ve been wanting to see,” Simons said. “And I think our ability to push the ball up the field is something that we’re going to need to bring on Thursday.
Once the T-Birds were comfortably in the lead, Simons began substituting liberally.
“It’s good for us to get some guys some experience,” Simons said. “We played quite a few sophomores off our bench tonight and it was incredible to see some of those guys step on the field and give us some great minutes.
“We knew coming into the season that we could have a good team. Almost everybody played varsity last year,” Granado said. “It’s just living up to those expectations. Obviously, we have goals that are going to come later in the season, but it’s just working towards them every game and making sure that every game matters.”
Though the score wasn’t what the Lions would have liked, they had several near misses that kept things interesting. Coach Mark Congdon believed trying to match the speed and intensity of the 5A T-Birds was a good learning experience.
“We’ve got more experience than we usually do, but we’re still starting several freshmen and sophomores,” Congdon said. “They were a little bit shell-shocked – this was a pace of play they hadn’t experienced before. They were chasing their tails most of the night.
“We played a team last night that is struggling and having a down year, so we mercy-ruled somebody last night, and tonight we get mercy-ruled. So, it was great to see both sides of the spectrum, to learn things like how to play with class no matter what the score is.”
Congdon said he expects this to be the best team the Lions have fielded in the last several years. Playing a powerful opponent early in the season can be to their benefit.
“That’s great soccer. How can we mimic that?” Congdon said. “I told the guys, 'You learn from your opponent. What made them so difficult to defend? What were the passes that broke our backs? What things can we take into the rest of our season and copy them?’ ”
Congdon noted a goal scored by Cair Paravel senior Nathan Keys that was wiped out by an offside penalty.
“This is the first game Nathan Keys was shut out since 2023,” Congdon said. “He scored in every game last year, and in our first three games this year. That (call) was unfortunate because I thought he might keep his streak going.”
SHAWNEE HEIGHTS 8, CAIR PARAVEL 0
Cair Paravel (2-2-0) 0 X — 0
Shawnee Heights (2-1-0) 8 X — 8
Shawnee Heights — Goals: Granado 4, Curvelo-Montenegro 2, Lindecrantz, Retana. Assists: Lilly. Shutout: Arteaga.
