Western Boone Jr. - Sr. High School

LEBANON - The Lebanon boys soccer team knows their margin for error is very small if they want to give themselves a chance in the Sagamore Conference title race. So while it wasn't pretty at times, they were happy to win their second-straight conference game with an 8-0 win over Western Boone. "We have to win out to have a chance, and hope some other teams can top Frankfort," Lebanon head coach Scott Milam said. "Every year this is a game that can cause us problems and there were spurts tonight they did too. We had to learn a little bit about ourselves to come through it." Early on, the Western Boone defense was able to frustrate the Tigers. For the first 20 minute, the Tigers settled for outside shots that went over the goal. The best chance came eight minute into the half off a corner kick, but a header was cleared off the line by Western Boone's Ben Fortner to keep the Tigers off the board. "We were a little lethargic and a little too selfish, not playing our game," Milam said. "We were trying to do some things on our own, instead of playing off each other. Once we changed that, it started going better for us." It was a quick barrage that put the Stars into a hole in the first half. Kendrick Welty scored off a cross from Quintin Isenhower with just over 15 minutes left in the first half. Just more than a minute later, Altin Emerllahu scored on a breakaway to make it 2-0, then 70 seconds later Treyton Achor made it 3-0, pouncing on a rebound. Before the end of the half, Ylljon Emerllahu and Achor scored to make it 5-0 at the half. "We are a younger team and a younger program," Western Boone head coach Shane Conner said. "Hat off to Lebanon, they played a really good game and coach Milam does a good job of making adjustments. We played really good soccer for a little bit, then we start getting tired. That's just part of it; we don't have the depth right now to be competitive all the way through." Conner said one of the frustrating parts is that on a lot of the goals, it was a WeBo mistake that led to the Tigers' opportunity. He said as the program continues to grow, they have to learn from those mistakes so they can give themselves a chance in the big games. "Sometimes we can be our own worst enemy," Conner said. "But the kids are learning, they are playing aggressive and they are getting better every day. That' all I can ask for. I don't feel like we lost this game. They may of had more goals than we did, but we never gave up and you only lose when you give up." Isenhower scored early in the second half to make it 6-0. Altin Emerllahu and Welty added two more to make it 8-0. It was a span of 34 minutes to score the Tigers eight goals. "After the start, we were able to change it up a little and got the intensity back," Milam said. "We had a good drive to score and get the ball in the back of the net that we didn't have that first 20 minutes. Once we decided to play together, it looked better." The Stars have home games next week against Danville and Covington. Conner said he wants the Stars to build on the positives moving forward, namely the first 20 minutes and the last 20 minutes, when they stopped the Tigers from scoring. In the final 20 minutes, the Stars also put together some of their best offensive threats, threatening to score. "We take a lot of pride in that," Conner said. "People that give up, will lose. If you don't give up, you cannot lose. We will be back next year and our goal is going to be to beat them 8-0. We are here to win, and we want to win every game. But winning isn't always having the most points in the game, it is more of a personal thing between ourselves to keep fighting." Lebanon has three-straight conference matches, facing Tri-West, North Montgomery and Danville in a seven-day stretch. "We have to maximize our opportunities," Milam said. "We had some shots from distance, or shots we weren't following up. Defensively we want to be a little more solid and make sure we are simple out of the back. If we can shut teams out, we will be in a good shape." Will Willems is the Sports Editor of the Lebanon Reporter. Follow him on Twitter @Will_Willems.