Tigers move to 8-3 with win over Vigor

Published 8:34 pm Tuesday, March 23, 2010

Powered by two Spence Overstreet goals, Demopolis (8-3, 4-0) opened its post spring break schedule with a 3-0 home win over Vigor Tuesday afternoon.

“The first half, he wasn’t doing what I put him up there to do,” Peter Keen said of Overstreet, a player the Demopolis head coach values on the offensive end for his aggressive play and competitive fire. “The second half, he came out and did exactly what he was supposed to do and scored.”

Despite launching 17 shots on goal in the game’s first period, the Tigers took only a 1-0 lead into the intermission after Overstreet connected on his first goal with only seconds remaining before the whistle.

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Early in the second half, Keith Junious pushed the ball up the right side and converted an unassisted goal to stretch the lead to 2-0.

Overstreet’s final goal came on an unassisted effort approximately midway through the second half.

The game was the first in 18 days for the Tigers, who last played March 5 against Pleasant Grove.

Tuesday’s match served as the final live action tune-up the Tigers will see before they travel to challenge Walker Friday night, the team that edged Demopolis for a playoff spot a season ago, preventing the young program from making its first ever postseason appearnce.

“It’s huge,” Keen said of the opportuniy to get a game in before returning to area play. “There’s a lot of teams that would practice all week and not play a game. Be we needed a game and needed win to get ready for Walker.”

While he was pleased with his team’s overall effort, Keen understands his squad will need improved play in a few areas to contend with Walker.

“If we’re not winning balls against playoff teams, it’s going to hurt us,” Keen said. His team appeared flat at times Tuesday, struggling to match Vigor’s team speed while also missing a handful of winnable balls.

Those struggles subsided considerably in the second half as the Tigers seemed to shake the cobwebs loose to some degree.

“They passed much better in the second half,” Keen said. “And the shots on goal were about the same (as in the first half).”

In spite of their occasional faults, the Tigers outshot Vigor 32-0 in the game. Demopolis travels to Walker Friday afternoon for a game that is scheduled to begin at 4 p.m.