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By ANDREW SIMONSON | Sports Editor

BUHL – Twenty-one was the lucky number of the night for the Montevallo Bulldogs boys soccer team as they put a steady stream of goals past the Sipsey Valley Bears to win their opening match of area play.

The boys and girls combined for 29 goals on the night as the boys took a 21-0 win on Monday, March 3 at Sipsey Valley High School while the girls took a similarly commanding shutout win with an 8-0 victory earlier in the night.

The Montevallo boys accomplished the feat in just 40 minutes of game action as the 10-goal mercy rule did not come into effect until the halftime whistle. That allowed the Bulldogs to run up their goal differential to secure a crucial cushion between them and their fellow area teams.

In all, 17 different goal scorers helped Montevallo score its 21 goals. Christian Diaz, Irving Choto, Tyan Ngalu and Alexis Lopez each finished the night with two goals while 13 of their teammates also got on the scoreboard.

Eric Angel, Jan Carlo Velasco, Eduardo Barragan, Michael Ronquillo, Pablo Olivo, Daniel Pineda, Jesus Munoz, Junior Alvarenga, Arturo Alvarenga, Rickey Chavez, Christopher Gallo, Gregory Castillo and Aaron Gallegos each recorded goals in the area victory.

The result crushed the single-game goal scoring record for the Montevallo boys soccer program, which according to Eurosport Scorbord was previously set in a 12-2 win on Feb. 17, 2014. That game was also a road victory over Sipsey Valley.

As for the girls, they scored a mere eight goals, but it was still more than enough to earn a convincing road victory.

Zabdy Perez led the team in scoring by earning three goals to secure a hat trick. Alondra Torres got herself a brace thanks to her two goals. Chloe Howard, Gloribel Sanchez and Violeta Mendoza rounded out the scoring to give the team a wide margin on the scoreboard.

The defense also held up its end of the pitch by securing a clean sheet, leading to an 8-0 win once the full-time whistle blew after 80 minutes.

The boys improved to 5-1-2 with the victory while the girls sit at 5-3-1. Both will have another area test on their hands as they will host Indian Springs on Thursday, March 6 at Theron Fisher Stadium. The girls will kick off at 5 p.m. before the boys start at 7 p.m.