Being a man down didn’t deter the Greenwood boys’ soccer team, which overcame a halftime deficit to roll past Warren East 11-3 on Tuesday at Drakes Creek Middle School.

Hunter Hawkins scored three of his four goals in the second half as Greenwood (3-3 overall, 2-2 District 14) scored nine unanswered goals to cruise to the win.

“I know these guys have it in them, but the five-day weekend really hurt us,” Greenwood coach Luis Llontop said. “We weren’t focused, but I think the second half they realized, ‘We are down, so let’s play our game. Let’s keep up the intensity and the pressure.’ That just tells you they have a lot of character.”

Greenwood got goals from Thorsten Karres and Hawkins to take a 2-0 lead nine minutes in.

Warren East (2-6, 0-4) got on the board with a goal by Juan Duran in the 20th minute.

Three minutes later, Greenwood’s Blake Packard was assessed a red card after a scuffle on the sideline. Warren East’s Fernando Lopez was also given a red card for coming off the bench, but the Raiders didn’t lose a man on the field – giving them an 11-10 advantage over Greenwood.

Warren East took advantage of the Gators being a man down, with Duran’s header tying the score in the 29th minute and Eddie Cano’s free kick from just inside midfield in the 33rd minute giving the Raiders a 3-2 lead they would take to halftime.

Llontop said he told his team at halftime they would have to step up in the second half if they wanted to win.

“I told them there was no magic to this and you had to work hard,” Llontop said. “I told them it was a chance for them to prove to themselves that they can do it and they proved me right.”

Hawkins set the tone, helping the Gators regain the advantage in the first seven minutes of the second half.

Hawkins was fouled in the box in the 42nd minute, leading to a penalty kick from Angello Alfaro. Hawkins then gave the Gators the lead for good with his second goal of the night five minutes later.

“I expect to set the tone every game because my teammates look at me to score goals and get our intensity up,” Hawkins said. “It’s mostly a team thing. Everybody participates. We never kept our heads down.”

Greenwood blew the game up with four goals in a four-minute span midway through the second half – two from Hawkins and a goal each from Oo Reh and Benito Valero.

Soe Reh scored in the 71st minute to make the score 9-3, with Reh and Ben Patterson capping the scoring with goals in the 78th minute.

Greenwood outshot Warren East 36-16, 24-12 in shots in goal, with a 26-3 edge in the second half.

Drew Loiars had eight saves for Greenwood, while Kobe Kawai had 13 saves for Warren East.

“We gave up a really silly turnover and a really silly foul and we never recovered from it,” Warren East coach Ben Thompson said. “The guys dropped their heads and never looked back up. We are lucky we didn’t get mercy ruled.

“There is something to be said about coming back from 2-0 against a team as good as Greenwood, but it’s not enough for us to lead at halftime. Up one at halftime equals an 11-3 loss. We will work on our mental game and hopefully come back next time and do better.”

Warren East will host Bowling Green at 7 p.m. Thursday. Greenwood will host South Warren at 7:15 p.m. Thursday.

“It’s a big chance,” Llontop said. “We just have to keep the intensity up. They are coming to our turf and we have to make them respect our turf. Whatever happens, we will play hard.”{&end}