Aaron Ray never let on to his team Thursday night.

The Warren Central boys’ soccer coach kept the instructions coming, praise and criticism in equal measure as the Dragons battled Glasgow in the Region 4 Tournament championship at Drakes Creek Middle School.

Ray didn’t let on, but he knew.

Eight minutes into the championship, after Warren Central junior James Khual tracked down a long through ball and pushed a shot past Scotties goalkeeper Brantley Estes for the Dragons’ first score, Ray had no doubt. Neither did his team, as Warren Central tacked on two more first-half goals and easily fended off Glasgow the rest of the way for a 3-0 victory to land the Dragons in the state tournament for the first time ever.

“At 1-0, I kind of knew that was the end of it,” Ray said. “Then we got a couple more to go in, so I was excited about that.”

“I’m happy for the guys to be able to have this moment together. They worked hard for it for a long time.”

That work started before the season, and a decision Ray made to pair brothers Elocho and Wilondja Ramazani at center back created the nucleus of the Dragons’ suffocating defense. In 21 games heading into Thursday’s championship, Warren Central had allowed six – just six – goals all season. No wonder Ray felt so confident after Khual’s early goal.

“They’re going to keep it safe,” Ray said of the Ramazani brothers. “They’re going to play smart, they’re going to make sure nothing gets past them. I can trust them and just leave them back there and not really say much to them.”

Pressing the Scotties from the start, Warren Central (21-1) tested Estes with a few long balls and crosses into the box before Khual broke through when Kaung Hein launched a long looping through ball from past midfield into the penalty area. Khual beat two backtracking Scotties to the ball and drew a charge from Estes before sidestepping the keeper and flicking in a shot for the 1-0 lead.

“It was a really, really good ball,” Khual said of Hein’s pass. “He kind of dipped it and the keeper came up, so I kind of pulled it over to the side and then kicked it in. It was just a good cross. It’s not about me. It’s the cross from my teammate.”

The Dragons struck again with 10:36 left in the first half on a second-chance opportunity. Warren Central’s Jimmy Estrada worked free for a hard cross near the goal line that Estes attempted to snatch up from the ground, but the ball bounced free and Fahrudin Alic was there for the follow-up shot for the goal.

Then in stoppage time, Hein got his own goal with a devastating diagonal rising blast that sailed inside the left post. That gave the Dragons a 3-0 lead heading into the break.

Glasgow (19-3) never did generate much of an offensive attack, hampered by injuries to several key players and smothered by the Dragons’ unyielding defense.

“We had two key losses in the midfield and it hurt us really badly,” Scotties coach Ken Mahung said. “As a matter of fact, we had five of our starters injured from the last game. So we had three playing with injuries and then the other two just couldn’t go anymore.

“… We had to change our game plan because we had players who couldn’t play, so it hurt us a lot. Now I’m not taking anything away from Warren Central – they played a fantastic game, but we didn’t have our full strength.”

The Dragons kept up the pressure in the second half, finishing the game with a 29-2 shot advantage.

“Attacking’s what we’re going to do,” Ray said. “We’re never going to sit back.”

Elocho Ramazani was named the Region 4 tournament most valuable player, and teammates Kemal Esmic, James Kual and Kaung Hein joined him on the all-tournament team. Glasgow’s Adam Garrett, Alejandro Bueso and Reed Gatlin, South Warren’s Anatoli Emina and Orlando Gil, Franklin-Simpson’s Caleb Wilson and Logan County’s Kaleb Justice were also among the all-tournament selections.

The Dragons, now district and regional champions, are ready to take a shot at one more title when they begin state tournament play on the road Monday against Region 2 champion Hopkinsville

The goal is simple for Warren Central.

“I’m hoping to go all the way,” Alic said. “That’s it.”