Southern Ohio Sports Authority is presented by OhioHealth.
LOGAN — So far, the Athens Bulldogs have left no doubt this postseason.
That trend certainly wasn’t stopping on Tuesday.
The Bulldogs — highlighted by a combined five goals from two of their seniors — continued their dominance on both sides of the ball and cruised to a 6-0 victory over Fairland in a Division II district semifinal at Logan High School.
CREDIT: Derrick Webb/SOSA
“It’s been fun the past two games, scoring all of these goals,” Athens’ Andy Pigman said. “Defensively, we’ve been very strong, so it’s been enjoyable.”
The two teams played to a stalemate for the first 10 minutes of the match, but Athens (15-1-4) continued to get opportunities inside the box and fired off several shots on target.
The Bulldogs were finally able to capitalize at the 26:16 mark in the first half. Alex Hendrickson crossed the ball to Austin Jaunarajs, who finished the play off with a goal to put Athens on the board.
Despite an outstanding first half from Dragons keeper Jamison Lauder, who recorded 11 saves in the half, Fairland (9-7-2) was only able to tally one shot in the entire half. That led to more opportunities for the Bulldogs to do damage.
“We’ve been solid [defensively] throughout this season and especially in this postseason,” Pigman said. “It feels very good knowing we have [defenders] back there.”
When the opportunities came, Athens capitalized.
Jaunarajs, once again, found the back of the net with 5:57 left in the half and extended the lead to 2-0. The Bulldogs didn’t stop there as Andy Pigman entered the scene with 36 seconds left in the half, coming up with a score to take his team into the break with a 3-0 advantage.
The Bulldogs came out of halftime looking to put the game away early and who else to turn to but Austin Jaunarajs.
After his goal 45 seconds into the half was waived off, the senior went back to work as he fired through traffic and got his third goal of the game with 34:53 left to play, putting Athens up 4-0.
“I’m happy to get the hat trick,” Jaunarajs said. “But there were two really good assists from my teammates, so I have to give them some credit.”
Athens wasn’t satisfied with its lead, though.
With 31:35 left in the match, sophomore Braden Talley fired off a deflection and scored to make it a 5-0 advantage. Three minutes later, Andy Pigman twisted in the knife with his second goal of the game, putting the cherry on top of a victory — one that sends Athens back to the district final for the fourth consecutive season.
“It’s been fun scoring all of these goals,” Jaunarajs said. “It gives us a big confidence boost to go into the district final with.”
The Bulldogs advance to a Division II district final at noon, Saturday at Zane Trace High School. They’ll meet with Fairfield Union — who earned a 3-0 win over Gallia Academy to advance.
Athens previously defeated Fairfield Union on Aug. 19 in Lancaster by a 4-2 margin.
“We play every game at 100 percent and we play like it’s our last,” Pigman said. “[Fairfield Union] is a really good team. We’ve played them many times, so it’s going to be a fun one.”
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