The Fort Campbell Falcons soccer team lives to fight another day. For the Heritage Christian Academy Warriors, the 2024 high school soccer came to an end.
Aiden Charles had a hat trick in the first half and Aiden Freck had two of his four goals in the second half as the Falcons defeated the Warriors 10-2 in the first round of the Boys’ District 8 Soccer Tournament Saturday afternoon at University Heights Academy.
The win pushes the Falcons into the semifinal round as the fourth seed against top seed and tournament host UHA at 5:30 p.m. Tuesday. Second seed Hopkinsville will take on third seed Christian County at 7 p.m. Tuesday night. The championship game is scheduled for 6 p.m. Thursday.
Freck got the scoring started in the 8th minute and then Charles scored the next three goals as Fort Campbell (8-7-2) took a 4-0 lead with 25:03 left in the first half.
Kallan Davis scored the first of his two goals for HCA (1-12-1) with 20:27 to play in the half to pull within 4-1.
However, Robert Charles scored with 20:00 to go and the Falcons added another goal off a corner kick with 16:16 to play in the half for a 6-1 lead.
Davis then beat four defenders and powered in his second goal of the night at the 3:03 mark of the half and that score stood at halftime.
But it didn’t take the Falcons long to score again as Freck scored in the opening minute of the second half for a 7-2 lead. Chase Cribbett made it 8-2 with 33:08 to go.
Despite playing with only 10 players and no substitutes, HCA kept fighting as Lucas West got off a couple of shots that missed their mark. Fort Campbell played without its top scorer Dylan McDonald.
Freck made it 9-2 with 29:55 to play off a rebound and then ended the game by mercy rule with a goal at the 11:07 mark.
Fort Campbell and UHA met twice during the regular season with the Blazers winning on Post 1-0 in August and the Blazers capturing a 5-0 win last month. The Falcons enter Tuesday’s game on a four-match winning streak.
Tickets to the District 8 Tournament will be $8 at the gate and is cash only.
Before Saturday’s game, Academic All-State players with a 3.75 Grade Point Average were recognized. For HCA, those players were Cayden Nowak, Jerry Spurling, Charlie Tomberlin and Lucas Weiss. Honorable Mention Academic All-State with a GPA of 3.25 included Jayden Nichols, Lucas West, Charity Chambers, Kallan Davis and Diem Thompson.
Photos by Joe Wilson