Boys' soccer: Douglas tops North Valleys

Douglas continued its offensive barrage Saturday afternoon, pummeling North Valleys 7-1 to improve to 8-1 overall and 3-0 on the road.

"There's no secret, these guys like to play forward," Douglas coach Milko Vasquez said. "You can't get scoring like that unless you build it from the back end of the field, and we've been doing that these last few games.

"Everyone is getting motivated to get to the net and they're just very eager. That's starting to show on the scoreboard."

Douglas outscored its opponents 15-1 over the last week and has a 44-10 advantage over its opponents on the season.

"Our defense just isn't what it has been over the last few years, so we've had to change the way we play. We won't win 1-0 games, so we have to spend a lot of time attacking the net."

Saturday, Douglas got two goals apiece from freshman Edgar Arceo, Mike Gransbery and Michael Barnes. The remaining goal was credit as an own goal on North Valleys after a Panther defender headed the ball into the net on a Oscar Gonzalez corner kick that was going in anyway.

Arceo completed an impressive week in which he scored six goals in two games and Gransbery extended his career total to 45. His season total of 14 leads the Northern 4A.

"Edgar has really stepped things up this last week and has begun to come into his own," Vasquez said. "Eddie Vega and Ross Gardner are two guys who aren't really showing up on the stat sheet, but they are doing some tremendous things for us in the middle.

"Without guys like that, that are going to step into a role and do the dirty work, we aren't going to get the kind of offense we've been getting."

The defense was also impressive in distributing the ball Saturday as defenders Geoff Rahe and Derik Cantley each had assists. Gransbery had two assists, bringing his team-leading total to six and Barnes has an assist, bringing his season total to five.

Jeff Crozier had a big game in net, making eight saves. The Tigers had 25 shots on offense.

Douglas (8-1, 2-1) heads up to No. 2 South Tahoe Wednesday for a 3 p.m. game.

-- Joey Crandall can be reached at jcrandall@recordcourier.com or at (775) 782-5121, ext. 212.