Wednesday was a special night for Tyler Scruggs, because he and his teammates made sure it would be.
The Warrenton senior forward tallied three goals on Senior Night as the host Warriors rolled to an 8-0 win over Elsberry.
“This feels awesome,” Scruggs said. “We all worked hard to get this done and we put in 100 percent effort. Once we got the game going and we made them play how we wanted to, how we wanted them to work, things went our way, for sure.”
In the 18th minute, a deep throw-in landed on the foot of Cooper Irwin and he sent it to Scruggs, who found the back of the net for the 1-0 Warrenton lead.
Warriors Coach Jake Brown said that, once the team settled in after the night’s festivities, it got to work.
“It was a little harder for us to focus with all the Senior Night stuff but, once we settled in, we got going,” Brown said. “We were able to move the ball really well and we played our game.”
Warrenton (5-3) moved the lead to 3-0 by halftime as Scruggs found the net a second time and senior midfielder Gavin Thompson made it a three-goal lead.
With only four minutes gone in the half, Scruggs scored again, not only to cement the hat trick but to open the floodgates for the Warriors.
His penalty started a string of five second-half goals that led to the game’s stoppage with just over three minutes to play as the team took the 8-0 lead.
“We really did,” said Scruggs of Warrenton upping its game after halftime. “We made them work hard for every touch they got. I couldn’t have imagined this game going better. I got my hat trick and we mercied them. This was a fairy tale ending.”
After Scruggs secured his trio, Warrenton got second-half scores from senior defender Gavin Inman, who tallied a pair, junior midfielder Trace Mirth and freshman forward Braxton Tucker.
Assists were provided by sophomore midfielder David Ross (two), sophomore defender Tate Hopper, freshman defender Ryder Augusta, sophomore Daniel Trujillo, Mirth and Irwin.
Senior goalkeeper Rylee McGee made two saves to earn the victory.
Warrenton returns to the pitch tonight to host Tolton at 6:30 p.m.
WRIGHT CITY VOLLEYBALL 3, VERITAS CHRISTIAN 0 – The Wright City volleyball team earned a nice victory on Wednesday.
The Wildcats (14-7) rolled past the visiting Eagles 25-20, 25-17, 25-10.
The team recorded a stunning 24 blocks, led by eight from Madison Goodman and six from Madison Billham.
Jaiden Walch led the way with eight kills while Emerson Wendt paced the team with 11 assists.
Wright City returns home for Senior Night against Fort Zumwalt East at 6 p.m. tonight.
UNION SOFTBALL 17, WARRENTON 14 – A six-run lead at the midpoint of the game didn’t hold as Warrenton fell to Union.
The Warriors (9-9) will host Winfield at 4:30 p.m. on Friday.
