Jets dump Watertown, 10-1

Cumberland County’s offensive prowess was on display late last week when the Jets rolled to a surprisingly easy 10-1 District 7-AA soccer victory over visiting Watertown. 

“I thought we played well tonight,” said CCHS coach Cub Whitson. “All the tournaments we compete in are to build for our district games. And I think that has paid off.  I think it showed that playing tough competition before district certainly has been good for us. I was really proud of our performance.” 

The win pushes Cumberland County to 6-2-2 on the year. Watertown falls to 4-5 overall. 

Nicki Azzani led the way for the Jets with three goals in the first half, all three coming after Jaime Perez opened the match with a goal of his own to make it 4-0 with just over 27 minutes remaining in the period. 

Perez followed Azzani’s blitz with his second goal of the night. Gabriel Alva closed out the half with two goals of his own in the final 17 minutes to give the Jets a 7-0 margin heading into halftime. 

“Our offense, it is about chemistry,” said Whitson, who watched his team score nine goals in three games in last week’s Soddy-Daisy Invitational. “It is about the boys playing off each other. They’re being creative with each other, and it’s not one guy taking on multiple players. They’re using each other, playing off each other and it makes them very difficult to defend.” 

Whitson said he’s really excited about how his players are moving without the ball. He said they’re finding the seams, they’re keeping their heads up and they’re finding the guys in the right spaces. It has been good stuff, he said.

Watertown scored its lone goal early in the second half. However, Alva scored again for the Jets to make it 8-1. Graham Davidson put the ball in the back of the net and Perez got the final goal of the match with a little over 18 minutes to go to post the final 10-1 margin. 

Whitson said the move to bring Perez out of the CCHS goal and on to the field stems from the development of young goalkeeper Ian Gargac. 

“Jaime has always been a phenomenal soccer player in the goal and on the field,” the coach said. “So, it is great to have s keeper like lan Gargac to be able to come on and give Jaime that opportunity. And when he can be on the field, it just adds another element to our attack. 

“It is definitely an option that we want to keep exploring. Jaime is a great player, so to be able to finally utilize him is a great feeling.” 

Cumberland County will host Loudon April 2 at 6 p.m. 

“We’re confident, but not satisfied,” Whitson said. “We know there is a long way to go. We need to keep pushing, keep getting better. We can’t be happy with one district win.”