Republic beat Bolivar 4-0 Thursday night on the road. But more importantly, they had fun doing it.
“I thought that was a key going into the game. Before the game, I told the boys, ‘I don’t want us to get unfocused here, but I just want us to have fun tonight,” says coach Kevin Hauck. “We’ve put a lot of pressure on ourselves, and we played at times with a lot of tension and … stress, knowing how good we should be.”
It’s always more fun when you’re winning, and the Tigers were in control most of the night. They broke on top in the 23rd minute when a Drew Flippin shot rebounded out to Jorge Jimenez, who drilled it home for a 1-0 lead.
Ten minutes later, Kalem Murray got in on the action, scoring a goal to make it 2-0.
In the second half, Republic took a 3-0 lead on Flippin’s first goal of the night. Flippin charged toward the right post and fired a shot across the face of the Bolivar keeper, into the left side of the net in the 49th minute.
Then, in the 59th minute, he scored his second goal on a free kick from about 40 yards out, flying it just under the crossbar and over the outstretched arms of the goalkeeper.
Republic goalkeeper Dalton Ghan and the defense held off a couple of late chances by Bolivar to pick up the shutout.
“We moved the ball excellent out there, and we created a lot of opportunities,” Hauck says of his team’s play. “We’ve talked about it off and on throughout the season. They’ve even told me when they’re having fun and feeling good, they play better, and I want to make sure that we’re able to do that, especially this close to districts.”
