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Calera’s boys and girls soccer teams both improved to 2-0 in area play with shutouts against Chilton County as Brianna and Reece Collier combined for nine goals for the girls and the boys broke the deadlock with four second-half goals. (Contributed)

By ANDREW SIMONSON | Sports Editor

CALERA – The Calera Eagles are halfway home in area play, and through two of their four matches, both the boys and girls are 2-0 against Class 6A, Area 5 competition.

Calera secured a pair of shutouts against the Chilton County Tigers as the varsity boys picked up a 4-0 win while the girls won by mercy rule with a 10-0 score line on Tuesday, March 18 at the Eagle Sports Complex in Calera.

The games also took on a special meaning as they were the first varsity sports games to take place in Calera since a tornado touched down in the city on Saturday, March 15.

For the boys, it was a bit of a slow start offensively as neither team could break through into the opposing net in the first half. That meant the game went into the halftime break with the score tied at 0-0 and the outcome hanging in the balance.

The Eagles wasted little time making sure that they would be victorious this time.

In the 42nd minute, Edson Gonzalez sent a ball over to Alex Garcia, and he fired the shot home into the goal for the game’s opening score.

Just one minute later, Calera struck again. This time, it was Mario Portillo who provided service to Alex Montoya as the pair linked up for the second goal in the first three minutes of the half, turning a 0-0 game at the break into a 2-0 lead for the Eagles in the 43rd minute.

Those two goals were all Calera needed to secure the victory as it locked down the defensive end of the pitch and didn’t allow any goals en route to the clean sheet. However, the Eagles weren’t content with just two and doubled up their lead before the full-time whistle blew.

Armando Perez chipped in on both goals with assists with the first coming in the 55th minute. That was when he found Matthew Doerfler and allowed the senior midfielder to join the scoring party and build out a commanding 3-0 lead.

The Eagles struck once more in the final minutes of the game as Perez connected a pass to Gonzalez, and he sent the shot home into the net to finish off the 4-0 victory.

As for the girls, they had even more success on offense as they secured a 10-0 victory.

Calera got off to a strong start to the match thanks to five different goals in the first 40 minutes. That gave the Eagles a 5-0 lead at the break, but it was only the start of big things to come.

Calera continued pressing on the offensive end of the pitch and kept finding the back of the net to increase the advantage. In the end, the Eagles matched their first-half scoring output, finishing off the win with five more goals to trigger the mercy rule ahead of the 80-minute mark.

The Colliers fueled the offensive onslaught all night long as Brianna and Reece Collier combined for nine goals in the victory. Brianna finished the match with five goals on the night while Reece added in four goals of her own as the pair almost single-handedly pushed the Eagles to the win.

Jackie Martinez joined in the fun with a goal of her own as Calera eclipsed the double-digit mark and finished off the clean sheet.

With the wins, both the boys and girls teams are 7-3-1 on the season. The boys will continue their stretch of three matches in three days when they take on the Homewood Patriots on Wednesday, March 19 at 6 p.m. before both the boys and girls face county rival Montevallo.

That match with the Bulldogs will take place on Thursday, March 20 at Theron Fisher Stadium with the girls kicking off at 5 p.m. and the boys starting at 7 p.m.

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