The Warrenton Warriors scored three first half goals in their win over Wright City Saturday to cap off a Wright City soccer tournament title. 

Warrenton (4-2) beat Wright City 4-0 Saturday to win the tournament. The Warriors also earned wins over Elsberry and Liberty Christian to win the title. 

Warrenton’s three goal first half was capped off by Evan Donovan’s long range goal right before the first half buzzer. Donovan kicked the ball towards the net with about three seconds left and scored right before time expired in the half. 

“I’m injured, right? My ankle is just totally messed up. I have a cleat mark all the way down my leg,” Donovan said. “Bryan (Guerrero) passes me the ball. I turn and I just rip it. I, like, I didn’t even look or anything. I just hit it. I was so glad that went in.”

After over 18 minutes of scoreless soccer to start the game, Warrenton scored a pair of goals in less than nine minutes to take a 2-0 lead. Carson Venneman scored off of Guerrero’s free kick in the 19th minute to open the scoring. 

Travis Corbett scored on a header off a corner kick to extend Warrenton’s lead. 

“We worked on set pieces two or three days, you know, just working on making sure that we get good runs to the posts and just that we crash and go 100 percent,” Warrenton boys soccer coach John Schulte said. “And I think when Bryan lined up for the one that he saw there was a gap so he kind of hit it right between the gap. Carson I think was able to run on and just tip it right around the goalie. So, you know, it was great on their behalf to kind of notice that.”

Wright City boys soccer coach Josh Albregts credited the first two goals to breakdowns on the Wright City defense. He said Warrenton took advantage to score the first two goals. 

“Warrenton has definitely been good as far as that’s concerned whenever it comes to the capitalizing on the errors,” Albregts said. 

Warrenton’s Isaac Wagner scored a goal just over 10 minutes into the second half to give Warrenton a 4-0 lead. 

The Warriors earned their first three wins of the season at the Wright City soccer tournament. They did not allow a single goal in the tournament. Schulte credited the Warrenton defense for limiting scoring opportunities and goalie Owen Thompson for making key saves. 

“He’s been playing outstanding so far and just our defense not really allowing opportunities,” Schulte said. “You know, if you can limit the opportunities, you’re not going to give up goals. So, defense and Owen doing a great job back there”

Despite dropping the game to Warrenton on Saturday, Wright City had a winning tournament. They finished the tournament with two wins in three games. They beat Elsberry 3-1 and Liberty Christian 8-1. 

“We did have three guys score their first goals for varsity… We had a junior and then a couple of freshmen that scored their first goal. So it’s one of those things, you know, I’m happy for those guys. I love that we were able to do it,” Albregts said.

Albregts said the Wildcats are a young team and do not have the size other teams possess. However, he spoke highly of how some of their younger players are responding to the challenge. 

“A couple of the freshmen though. They’re not backing down from these bigger guys and that’s what I like to see,” Albregts said. “Because once we can get them in the weight room, once we get them working out, things like that, then we’re going to see a better outcome on it. So unfortunately, we’re just on the wrong side of it today.”

Liberty Christian Academy went 0-3 over the course of the tournament.  

“We moved the ball for the most part when we got a chance to,” Liberty Christian head coach Ken Dildine said. “We’re still learning. I think these boys are better than they actually think they are and they’re not showing it right now. I don’t think that either one of the teams that we played were eight goals better than us. But for some weird reason, we just can’t figure out what it’s going to take. So we’re going to work on that this week and get ready for the next week.”