The Todd County Central Rebels’ hopes of reaching the 4th Region boys’ soccer tournament came to an abrupt end Tuesday night. The Russellville Panthers took control of their semifinal match with the Rebels early in the contest and rolled on to a 7-1 win in Elkton.
With the win, the Panthers will move on to Thursday night’s championship game against Franklin Simpson. The Wildcats blanked Logan County in the first match Tuesday night 3-0.
Russellville got a huge effort from junior Avery Flener. Flener had a double triple-double of sorts. Flener scored three goals for the Panthers in the first half, and then assisted on three goals scored by Dustin Brown in the second half.
Flener scored on goals at the 8:00, 11:00, and the 29:00 marks in the first half to state the Panthers to a 3-0 lead at the break. Russellville controlled play throughout the first 40 minutes, keeping the pressure moving forward against the Todd Central defense. Russellville outshot Todd Central 14 to 5 in the opening half of play.
The Panthers continued their attacking style in the 2nd half. Flener turned to passing mode in the second half, setting up Dustin Brown for a hat trick of his own. Russellville also scored when Jeremiah Smith scored off a corner kick from Dustin Brown.
The Rebels got on the board at the 45:00 mark when Mikey Everett headed in a shot from right in front of the goal to make it 4-1 at the time.
For the match, Russellville had 22 shots on goal, while limiting the Rebels to just nine shots. The Panthers defenders were able to keep Todd Central from getting many good looks at the net over the course of the night.
The Rebels finish the abbreviated 2020 season with a record of 4-9.
