Back-to-back matches against a pair of winless teams couldn’t have come at a better time for Polk County’s boys soccer team.

A day after snapping a four-match streak without a win with a 3-1 victory at Mountain Heritage, Polk County added another notch to its win column, cruising past Mitchell 6-1 in a Western Highlands Conference match in Tennant Stadium.

Polk County (4-5-1, 2-0) built a 3-0 lead at halftime, then continued to build the margin in the second half against the Mountaineers (0-10, 0-2).

In a season that hasn’t had many highlights, Mitchell did get one late in the game, scoring its first goal since August 31 on a flukish play in which Jonathan Mills body-blocked a kick from Polk goalkeeper Wilson Edwards, wide left and some 20-25 yards from the goal, that sailed through the air, hit one of the goalposts and richocheted into the net.

Otherwise, the night belonged solely to Polk.

“This came at a good time for us,” said Polk County head coach Lennox Charles. “Because we pushed Madison to the end (of the conference schedule rotation), it’s like we’re building up through the schedule.

“Avery (Polk’s next opponent) is better than these two teams. Then we jump into Owen and Hendersonville. It’s getting progressively tougher for these next three games. Hopefully, we can maintain our confidence and build momentum as we go.”

Isaias Akers scored in the 13th minute to give the Wolverines and early lead, with Alex Pearson drilling a goal from the left wing seven minutes later to make it 2-0.

Polk then scored just before the half as the Wolverines played a long ball from their end of the field toward the Mitchell goal. Luis Hernandez won a footrace for the ball and calmly beat the Mitchell goalkeeper to make it 3-0 with 20 seconds left in the half.

Each team played with 10 players after a pair of red cards were issued with two seconds remaining in the first half. That didn’t slow the Wolverines, as Sam Korzelius made it 4-0 with a beautiful goal from the left wing, some five yards outside the penalty area, the shot dipping into the upper left corner of the net.

Following Mitchell’s goal, Salvador Chavez and Sean Hudson each scored to account for the final margin.

Polk County travels to Avery on Monday.

“Monday is important for us in the big picture,” Charles said. “As we’re playing these teams other than Owen and Hendersonville, we have to play well and get wins or else our overall record (used to determine at-large playoff berths and playoff seeding) will suffer at the end.”

– article submitted by PolkSports.com