Weston Cook, East Wilkes’ starting goalkeeper, collects one his five saves in the match against Forbush.
EAST BEND — The Forbush boy’s soccer team didn’t get off to a desirable start on Monday night.
But it certainly finished strong in its 10-1 win over East Wilkes to improve to 2-0 in the young season.
The Falcons, who won the Foothills 2A Conference championship last fall, also earned a 2-0 win over Ashe County last Wednesday and finished off the Cardinals in 76 minutes on Monday. The match ended via the mercy rule.
Early on though, East Wilkes (0-1) had upset on its mind after staking claim to a 1-0 advantage in the second minute on Jose Ventura’s goal off a corner kick.
Forbush quickly regrouped and scored less than two minutes later with the first of three goals from Axel Garcia.
After David Medina’s goal in the 12th minute, Garcia — a 2021 North Carolina Soccer Coaches Association 2A All-state selection — gave the home standing Falcons a 3-1 lead.
Over the next 20 minutes, Forbush put shots on goal but were either off the mark or corralled by East Wilkes goalkeeper Weston Cook. The junior had a nice stop on a shot attempt in the 34th minute for one his five saves in the match.
The Falcons finally broke through in the 37th minute thanks to a Jonathan Flores score off an Omar Arzate assist for a three-goal halftime advantage. Flores also spent the second half in goal and did not allow a goal.
Out of the break, Garcia notched his final goal of the night when he scored off an assist from his brother, Samuel Garcia, less than two minutes into the second half.
After Medina collected his second goal of the match in the 49th minute, Nick Weisner pushed the advantage to 7-1 when he scored from nearly 40 yards away in the 54th minute.
The Cardinals nearly scored their second goal of the match 10 minutes later, but the attempt was just wide.
Forbush put the match to bed with a trio of goals in a five-minute span as Cruz Carrasco and Juan Albarran scored in the 71st and 76th minutes, respectively.
The Falcons also received an own goal sandwiched between the goals. Mag Teodoro assisted on both Forbush goals.
Gio Jimenez and Cristian Sanchez also registered assists for the Falcons, who returned to the pitch on Wednesday night at home against former Western Piedmont Conference foe West Stokes. After that match, they’ll the hit the road to Mocksville to face with 4A Davie County this coming Monday.
East Wilkes, which is under the direction of new head coach Wes Rousseau, will travel to a pair of Wilkes County schools for its next two matches, which included North Wilkes on Wednesday. After it faces West Wilkes on Monday, the Cardinals will open their home schedule the following night against Ashe County.
Rousseau, who took over the boys soccer program this summer after serving as the head boys basketball coach the past four seasons, was previously the head coach of the Ashe County boys and girls soccer teams from 2011-17.
In other boy’s soccer action on Monday night, Starmount held off a furious second-half rally from Wilkes Central for a 3-2 win at Wes Steele Stadium in Moravian Falls.
Monday’s match showcased two former Mountain Valley 1A/2A Athletic Conference adversaries looking for their first win as both teams entered the match with identical 0-1-1 records.
Starmount, which hosted North Surry on Wednesday evening, led 2-0 at halftime withstood two second-half goals from the Eagles.
Senior Manny Ferretiz led the way for the Rams (1-1-1) with a pair of goals and assisted on Oscar Ruiz’ goal.
Christopher Gonzalez finished with 10 saves in goal.
The Elkin Buckin’ Elks are currently off to a 2-1 start to the season after the first week of regular season action, which concluded with a 2-1 loss at West Iredell on Monday evening.
Prior to Monday’s match, Elkin shut out West Stokes, 2-0, in its season opener behind a pair of goals from Alejandro Lopez-Canobbio.
Charlie Pelkey and Aidan Ballard collected assists in the match.
The Buckin’ Elks, who hosted Surry Central on Wednesday evening, also picked up a 5-3 win against North Wilkes on Aug. 17.