Madisonville-North Hopkins outshot Hopkins County Central 10-1 in the first half but took just a 1-0 lead to halftime.
No problem for the Maroons, though. Madisonville scored four goals over the first 24 minutes of the second half to blow the match open and went on to claim a 5-1 victory in the championship game of the boys’ 7th District tournament Wednesday night.
Nojah Jimenez had a pair of goals for the Maroons, who extended their district championship streak to nine.
Madisonville-North Hopkins has won the district title every year under the current alignment. The last time the Maroons failed to claim the championship was 2011, when Madisonville fell to Henderson County in the 5th District final.
Kael Knight gave Madisonville (9-3-1) an early lead on Wednesday in Mortons Gap, scoring from the left side in the 14th minute. Isaac Parrish picked up the assist on the play.
But that was the only goal of the first half as the Storm (5-7-1) kept the game close.
Madisonville gained some breathing room in the 48th minute when Jimenez scored his first goal off a Sam Dodds corner kick.
Jimenez found the net again in the 57th minute, pulling the trigger on a long shot that bent away from the keeper and into the corner of the net. Caden Crowell got the assist as the Maroons went up 3-0.
Crowell got a goal of his own in the 61st minute to make it a 4-0 game.
Noah Renshaw found the net for the Maroons in the 64th minute with help from Knight to extend the margin to 5-0.
Hopkins Central broke up the shutout in the 73rd minute on a goal by Tim Clevenger.
Will Sampson had three saves in the Madisonville net. Trevor Weldon had five stops for Hopkins Central.
The Maroons outshot the Storm 19-6 in the contest.
Both squads advance to the 2nd Region Tournament, which will be played next week in Madisonville.
