On Friday, April 12, the OCS Saints soccer teams faced off against ASTEC Charter School in a must-win 4A district encounter. One week after both boys and girls teams suffered crushing defeats to Clinton, and with State playoff aspirations still in mind, both teams were aware of the stakes at hand. However, the Saints' minds may have been eased by the poor performances of the ASTEC team. In their last three district games, ASTEC's boys lost by a combined score of 25-1; the girls lost their last three games by a combined 30-0. In the light of this information, the Saints teams only needed to get the expected result.

The Mercy Rule
If you needed a refresher on the highschool soccer 'Mercy Rule' protocol, here's a quick overview. In order to prevent excessively humiliating blowouts between two mismatched highschool teams, games will end once one team reaches a 10 goal lead, regardless of how many their opponents score. However, one half must be played before the game can end, so it is possible to exceed 10 goals. If you showed up to support the Saints at ASTEC, or just about any ASTEC game, you would have seen this rule in play. 

Girls
The Lady Saints faced off against an ASTEC team that had not seen a lot of scores go their way that season. A blowout was the expectation heading into the match, and the girls did not disappoint. Their superior talent, not to mention the fact that they have no reserve team to put on, culminated in an 11-0 blowout. Those who are familiar with the Mercy Rule know that a goal differential higher than 10 means that all 11 goals took place in the first half before the game could. Notable performances include four goals from senior and team co-captain HAILEY NESSELRODE, as well as a hat-trick (three goals) from KENZIE KUNITZ and braces (two goals) from BLAIR ROWLETT and FINLEY CURRAN.

Boys
The boys' game started on a chaotic note, seeing as it began almost an hour earlier than expected. When taking into account that it was an away game, this caused a great deal of late arrivals among parents and players alike. However, they soon got the show on the road. Right off the bat, OCS was determined to prove that they were the better team. A 6-0 lead at halftime proved them right, despite putting members of the reserve team on after 4 goals had been scored. They would go on to score the full 10 to trigger the Mercy Rule, ending the game early with four goals from each of Hudson and LANDON HAHN, as well a goal each from freshmen LUKE ADCOCK and MICHAEL KUNITZ. Other noticeable contributions include four assists from freshman JACK RISNER and a first goal contribution for the Saints, an assist, from Senior ETHAN BRAZIL.

What's Next?
On the back of these huge district wins, both Saints teams were left with two district games to play; Newcastle on April 16 and Weatherford on the 18th. The Lady Saints unfortunately lost against Newcastle, but had already secured State qualification and will be looking to advance into a better position against Weatherford. The boys secured a much-needed win against Newcastle, and will similarly be looking to secure a better place in the State playoffs. Nobody will blame fans if they don't drive the hour and a half to watch the Saints against Weatherford on Thursday, but anyone can support the Saints by watching the live stream on youtube.com/@ocssaints!