CHAPEL HILL — The Forrest Rockets broke out of a scoreless game with two first half goals in a 35-second span and the Rockets added to their lead en route to a 5-2 win over the Tyner Academy Rams in a semifinal game of the Region 3-A tournament Tuesday night.
The win punches a ticket for the Rockets in the Region 3-A finals and assures Forrest of a match in the TSSAA Class A sectional round.
Both teams had chances to score in the first 10 minutes.  The Rockets came out and nearly opened the scoring with two close chances in the first four minutes while keeper Josh Rumley of Forrest made back-to-back saves to keep the score at 0-0.
The Rockets finally broke the ice in the 12th minute.  After a rebound off the goalie, Chris Davis scored with an assist from Izaiah Haacke to give Forrest a 1-0 lead.
The Rockets scored again quickly in the 12th minute as Isaac Cruse led Jamie McDaniel down the middle and McDaniel finished to give Forrest a 2-0 lead.
"We told the team if we came out quick, that would put them back on their heels," Coach Jason Ellis of the Rockets said. 
"Neither of us knew what to expect, and if we came out fast, they wouldn't know what to do with us and I think that worked out well."
After Tyner hit the post in the 15th minute, the Rockets scored seven minutes later as Davis maneuvered through the Ram defense and scored to end the first half scoring and give Forrest a 3-0 advantage.
The Rams came out as the aggressors in the second half, but Tyner was not able to cut into the Rocket 3-0 lead. 
Forrest scored the first goal of the half in the 59th minute as Hugo Pelsser made a nifty solo move and found the back of the net to increase the Rocket lead to 4-0.
Tyner scored its first goal in the 68th minute to cut the Forrest lead to 4-1, but the Rockets got the goal back five minutes later as Pelsser scored on a penalty kick to give the Rockets a 5-1 lead.
"The ball is sticky on his foot," Ellis said, referring to Pelsser.  "He can make it stick and move and players don't know what to do."
"And he's left-footed," Ellis added. "Being that good and left-footed throws a lot of defenders off."
The Rams scored the final goal of the game in the 77th minute to provide the final 5-2 margin.        
"They fought tooth-and-nail to the end and put in two goals and didn't quit," Ellis said.         
It will be a quick turnaround as Forrest travels to Chattanooga to take on CSAS in the region finals on Wednesday night at 6 p.m. Central time (7 p.m. Eastern time).  CSAS defeated Community in the other region semifinal.
                                                                                         
Tyner Academy  0  2 — 2
Forrest                3  2 —  5
 
First Half
F — Chris Davis goal from Izaiah Haacke (12th minute).
F — Jamie McDaniel goal from Isaac Cruse (12th minute).
F — Davis goal (22nd minute).
 
Second Half
F — Hugo Pelsser goal (59th minute).
T — Goal (68th minute).
F — Pelsser penalty kick (73rd minute).
T — Goal (77th minute).