STEVENSVILLE — Swift and decisive.
Those are adjectives that coach Dennis Hickman likely would use to describe the Trojans’ loss in varsity boys soccer Thursday at Kent Island.
The Buccaneers scored in the first minute and never throttled down en route to an 8-0 victory.
They rebounded from back-to-back losses by shutout to improve to 6-2.
Meantime, Kent County slipped to 5-4 after having its five-match winning streak halted.
“They’re very talented and very deep,” Hickman said of the Class 2A Bucs, who boast a varsity roster of 25 players — including 12 seniors. Many of them play travel soccer in leagues on the other side of the Chesapeake Bay bridge.
By comparison, the Class 1A Trojans dressed only 14 players, most of whom are underclassmen, including a junior varsity call-up.
Hickman is a realist, and going in he knew it would be a tall order for the Trojans to prevail.
That was apparent almost immediately.
“We tried an aggressive kickoff play … and they scored within the first 30 seconds, which set the tone for the rest of the match,” Hickman told The Evening Enterprise.
He said he counseled the Trojans to “play your game and not worry about the score.”
“We wanted to get out of there healthy because next week is important,” Hickman said, noting that KCHS will face off against similarly small Class 1A schools Colonel Richardson (6-2) and Snow Hill (4-3) to close out the home slate on Tuesday, Oct. 8 and Thursday, Oct. 10, respectively.
“I was happy with the way the guys handled themselves,” Hickman added, finding the proverbial silver lining, “and it was an opportunity to work on our passing.”
NOTES: Thursday, Oct. 10 is Senior Night for the Trojans with a 5 p.m. start. It’s varsity only.
On Tuesday, Oct. 8 there are two matches, jayvee at 4 p.m. and varsity at 5:30 p.m.