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By ANDREW SIMONSON | Sports Editor

ALEXANDER CITY – The Calera Eagles started the most important part of their season on a high note as they took a pair of victories over the Benjamin Russell Wildcats.

Calera’s varsity boys soccer team defeated Benjamin Russell 5-1 after the girls won a penalty kick shootout 3-2 following a scoreless draw on Thursday, Feb. 27 in Alexander City.

While the varsity boys team went on to take a commanding victory, the early stretch of the game was a defensive battle between both sides.

Neither team cracked the opposing defense in the opening half of play, leading to a scoreless draw at the halftime break.

However, Calera quickly changed that in the second half as Armando Perez found Mario Portillo for the Eagles’ opening goal of the match. Matthew Doerfler doubled up Calera’s goal total with an unassisted goal to keep his offense rolling.

Portillo then helped create another goal for the Eagles, this time by serving up a chance for Landon Morrow, who finished it off for Calera’s third goal. Portillo then dished out a second assist by finding Doerfler for his second goal of the match.

Alex Garcia then finished off the scoring after taking advantage of a ball from Sam Njoroge to score the Eagles’ fifth goal of the half.

As a result of Calera’s offensive eruption, it claimed a 5-1 win to start out the four-match area slate in strong fashion.

Portillo finished the match with a goal and two assists while Doerfler recorded a brace with two goals.

As for the girls, a back-and-forth match led to a theatrical finish. The two area foes ended regulation and both overtime periods tied at 0-0, meaning a penalty shootout would decide who won the area opener.

The Eagles needed players to step up and convert from the spot as Benjamin Russell scored a pair of penalty kicks during their series of chances.

Reece and Brianna Collier delivered on their respective chances by finding the back of the net, and Taylor Rupertus also scored to give Calera a 3-2 lead.

The Wildcats had a chance to tie it up at 3-3 and extend the shootout by another round, but Addison Hicks came up with a big save on Benjamin Russell’s final attempt to preserve the 3-2 margin and walk away with the victory.

With the wins, Calera’s boys are now 5-2-1 and No. 7 in Class 6A while the girls are 6-1-1. Both teams were scheduled to play Homewood on Tuesday, March 4, but severe storms forced them to be cancelled.

Instead, the boys will be back in action on Friday, March 7 at 7:15 p.m. at the Eagle Sports Complex against Class 7A Montgomery Academy. The girls will play the same night at Northridge at 5 p.m.