Alton Marquette Nabs St. A Soccer Tourney, Mattoon Wins Red & Gold

The Effingham St. Anthony High School Soccer Tournament opened play Thursday as Altamont beat Carlyle 4-0 and Mount Carmel downed Salem 1-0.

In Friday's action, the event started an hour late after lightning delays. St. Anthony tied Greenville 0-0 and Alton Marquette beat Harrisburg 7-0.

"Saturday the radar cleared and the temperatures stayed dry and hot," said St. Anthony Coach Eric Morales.

In the first game, St. Anthony beat Salem 1-0. Altamont then downed Mount Carmel 3-0. Greenville and Harrisburg played to a tie. Salem beat Carlyle 3-2 and Altamont downed Harrisburg 2-0. Later that evening, Alton Marquette beat Greenville 4-0, St. Anthony defeated Mount Carmel 1-0 and Alton Marquette won over Carlyle 5-0.

That gave Alton Marquette the tourney championship due to point differential. Altamont took second and St. Anthony finished third.

"It was a great tournament and it went smooth," said Morales.

During the Mount Carmel match, Altamont's Jesus Flores scored in the 15:41 minute unassisted. Then Greg Stewart beat the goalie with five minutes left in the first half. Altamont led 2-0 at half. Flores followed with a third goal in the second half to finish another victory.

Altamont outshot the opponent again 15-7 leading to its third win for the season.

Altamont moved into its third and final match against Harrisburg. The Indians found themselves on top with a 2-0 victory. The Indians led at half with Fernando Romo scoring with Flores assisting him at 18:00 of play. Flores scored two goals in the second half to seal the win.

"We didn't give up a goal the entire time in the tournament," said Altamont Coach Jeff Walton. "Now we're stepping into the tough part of our schedule with Mattoon Tuesday and Newton and Olney Saturday."

Charleston Red & Gold Tournament

Mattoon captured the 20th Annual Charleston Red & Gold Tournament for the third straight year.

Games were washed out Friday so all of the teams played two games Saturday. Mattoon blanked Monticello 7-0 and then beat Teutopolis 2-0.

Charleston played Teutopolis to a 1-1 tie then beat Monticello 4-1.

Effingham opened with an 8-1 loss to Centralia Saturday. The Hearts had six saves to start the game and finished with 14 saves. Noah Mulheron scored a goal late in the second half.

The Hearts then fell to Newton 5-1. Danny Hortenstien started a KC in the second half for Effingham.

In junior varsity play, Mattoon beat Teutopolis 3-0 and was the junior varsity champions with a win over Monticello 7-0.