Chatham High School Boys’ Soccer Dominates Livingston in 5-0 Cougar Weekend Victory

After senior Marco Mannino scored off a penalty kick early in the game, Chatham High School (N.J.) Boys’ soccer team never looked back, as it poured on the offense for the 5-0 win over Livingston Friday night at home as part of Chatham Cougar weekend, a long-standing annual tradition of a series of fall sports’ home games played across three days.

Off to a 3-0 start, Chatham has been finding the back of the net with regularity, outscoring its opponents, 12-2, in the early going.

Head coach Mark Maka said he is loving the Cougars’ offensive output and is not looking a gift horse in the mouth these days. Plus, he enjoyed the way the goals were scored in the match against the Lancers.

“We’re scoring goals; knock on wood,” Maka said with gracious grin. “We don’t want to take that for granted. We know goals are a hard thing to come by. But these guys are finding ways to score, and today we found a couple of different ways to score, which is good. Obviously, we know Marco keeps finding ways, Hoff (senior Ryan Hoffelder) is finding good ways. So, we’re getting goals from different areas.”

Hoffelder made it 2-0 with 29.52 left in the first half.

Jake Kietz, another senior, regestired a marker of his own, with the assist coming from junior Quin Grosso, to extend Chatham’s lead to 3-0 with 10:20 remaining in the first half.

Kietz said he had to yell above the deafening roar of the raucous crowd to grab Grosso’s attention—just enough to get the pass, and from there, his foot took care of the rest.

“I was yelling as loud as I could, with the crowd, it was hard to hear,” Keitz recalled. “So, I yelled to Quinn, and he played me a great ball, and I was fortunate to finish it.”

Refusing to be left out of the action, sophomore Brooks Loftin tucked a blast just underneath the left crossbar to swell the Cougar’s advantage to 4-0 with 28:13 to go in the second half.

Mannino, a two-sport athlete, added his second tally of the match to cap the evening’s scoring.

Maka said Chatham’s hot start to season has its confidence growing each day. And if the Cougars play in tight games and continue to capitalize on their scoring opportunities like they have, especially with the other pieces of the club gelling, he believes they are prepared for what lies ahead.

“Knowing that if we’re in a game and its nil-nil, that we always have a chance; we’re in every game,” he said. “If we can finish our chances the way we have been, and the way our back row and goalkeeping have been playing (keep it up), and today I though our midfield did much better job than the last game. So, we’re starting to piece some things together, and we played really well. We’re ready for what is next.”

Chatham will be tested, as it faces powerhouse Delbarton Monday at home at 4:00 p.m.

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— Jerry Del Priore