By Eric Lusk
Sports Editor
elusk@elkintribune.com

Forbush High’s boys soccer team started the week by learning it had been voted No. 1 in the state for Class 2A in a N.C. Soccer Coaches Association poll.

The Falcons, who vaulted into the top spot from No. 8 last week, then proved it deserved the big boost in the rankings, defeating county rival Starmount 8-1 in Boonville.

Forbush turned a tight game into a runaway with five second-half scores. The contest featured Falcon goals in the first minute of each half. The Falcons have never been ranked this high since the polls first started coming out five or six years ago.

“The No. 1 ranking is exciting for the kids, and I’m glad the coaches association does that,” coach Seth Davis said. “But it puts a target on our backs. Everyone is going to give us their best game, and Starmount did.

“They played really hard tonight as a result of that.”

Forbush scored virtually off the kickoff. The Falcons played a ball through the defense right away, which Javier Guadarrama collected and scooted past Starmount keeper Oscar Hernandez.

Getting behind the defense would be a theme for Forbush all night. But credit Starmount‘s back line for keeping them out of the net for much of the rest of the opening half with dogged play.

Forbush finally cracked the Rams’ wall with 11:23 left before intermission. Guadarrama threw the ball in from the left side, and teammate Mario Detomas flicked a header into the net for a 2-0 advantage.

Guadarrama scored again with 1:30 left in the half, converting another breakaway chance. With Hernandez charging hard from the goal, Guadarrama slid to knock the ball around the keeper, then got up, chased it down and tapped it into an open net for a 3-0 lead.

“We do have speed,” Davis said. “Maybe one or two players on the field don’t have blazing speed, but everyone else is pretty quick.”

Guadarram and Detomas took turns scoring in the second half, with the lead growing to 7-0 just seven and a half minutes into play.Marco Rebollar added the final goal with 13:11 remaining.

The second half featured much more sloppy play on both ends, Davis said. Both teams were whistled for numerous fouls and yellow cards. One Forbush player was given a red card and ejected from the game.

“I wish the game could have stopped at halftime and we could have just gone home,” Davis said. “It’s a situation where you knew it was going to get ugly and it did.”

The win moved Forbush to 5-0-0 on the season. Two of the Falcons’ triumphs have come against 4A squads, Davie County and R.J. Reynolds.

Forbush beat St. Stephens, a solid 3A program, on Aug. 26. Austin Barker scored a first-half goal, then St. Stephens answered late in the half.

The score remained 1-1 until Guadarrama received a pass from Gerardo Gomez and chipped it over the keeper’s head with about 15 minutes left in the contest.

Forbush turned a breakaway into a third goal. Detomas took a pass from Cody Snow and dribbled it around the St. Stephens goalie on the play.

“St. Stephens is a very good team,” Davis said. “They had just beaten Lake Norman the night before. They might have had some tired legs in the second half because of that. We were able to get two in the last 15 minutes to put it away.”

Forbush will venture deeper into conference play over the next few weeks. Davis’ team will host West Wilkes tonight (Thursday), then will travel to North Wilkes next Tuesday. The first meeting with Wilkes Central, last year’s Mountain Valley 2A runner-up behind the Falcons, will be Sept. 15 in Moravian Falls.

Starmount will try to get back to winning ways tonight at East Wilkes. The Rams play Ashe County and Elkin next week.