The Pirates welcomed back the Keyser brothers, senior captain Daniel and sophomore Brian, and then feasted on tiger meat as the Pirate offense found its game as the Boys Varsity beat Baldwin Count High School Thursday night. Coach Eddie Strachan noted after the game, "I was glad to see what has been an anemic offense of late come to life against Baldwin County. We worked on moving without the ball this week and we seemed to pick up our offensive rhythm that we have not had in the last few games."

 

Ryan Strachan led off with a goal in the 14th minute on a nice through-ball. Jordan Sinclair headed one around the keeper in the 21st minute. Strachan then lit up the scoreboard again in the 31st minute of the first half and again in the 2nd and 14th minutes of the second half. Sinclair led the assist parade with two, Ben Kuyk, Colin McBrearty and Drew Dolan each added one.

 

Timely passing by Frank Sutley at the midfield helped spread the defense. Strong defensive performances by keeper Steven Pearson and defenders Cody Hicks, Brett Hegler and Jason Canarela held BCHS scoreless until well into the 2nd half when the game was out of reach. Ricky Harris, David Anderson, Steven Ard and Ben Clester continue to play well off of the bench.

 

"Our defense has been keeping us in games," commented Coach Strachan in an exclusive PirateSoccer.com interview, "but we had some defensive breakdowns during a second half stretch. I put Steven Ard in as keeper about midway through the second half, although he did give up some goals they were not his fault. He made a great diving save at one point to keep the margin at two goals. If we can get our offense and defense to both gel in the same game we will be hard to beat. It was certainly good to get some quality minutes out of Dan Keyser who has been sidelined for seven games."
 

The slideshow below only includes only a few of the photos taken from the BCHS game (the ones that appear to be better pictures or show clearer action).