Olathe East didn't waste anytime Tuesday night proving to Lawrence High it was worthy of its No. 5 Class 6A ranking in boys soccer.
The Hawks, No. 1 before a 1-0 overtime loss to Olathe North on Saturday, scored in the seventh minute on Tuesday and stuffed the Lions, 4-0, at the Youth Sports Inc. fields.
"I think Lawrence has a good, competitive team," said O-East coach Terry Hair, whose squad improved to 6-1. "We got up early on them and that changes the tempo."
O-East scored twice in the first half on goals by senior Josh Vincent and junior Tim Kaczmarczyk.
Two minutes into the second half, Vincent connected again on Andy Day's assist on a corner kick. In the 77th minute, Day supplied another perfect corner to Chris Thorup for the final goal.
"We played hard, with intensity, and worked real well," said LHS coach Chris Bertrand, whose team dipped to 0-6 with its third shutout loss of the season. "We give away such easy goals. The team barely has to work for them.
"We looked a lot more physical out there. They didn't get intimidated and were giving up like 20 pounds per player. We're definitely improving."
Said LHS sophomore striker/center midfielder Joey Kelly of the physical play, "They came out aggressive and so did we."
That physical play -- resulting in four yellow cards and two red cards for LHS and two yellows for Olathe East -- led to some hard feelings afterward. Bertrand forbid his players from shaking hands with the Hawks and their coaches.
"I refuse to shake hands with a team that plays thuggish on the field during the game and then turn around like nothing is going on," Bertrand said. "Physical teams like that do it so well that they get away with it all the time. My boys want to give some physical back and they get the cards."
The unsportsmanlike gesture miffed the O-East coach.
"I was a little disappointed," Hair said. "It's high school sports. You ought to shake hands. It's an insult to the team that comes to play. Every kid out here is trying, playing to the best of his ability. The ref is in charge of the match and he's controlling it to the best of ability.
"You shake hands after the game. If you don't, it sends a bad message to the kids and that's not what high school sports are about."
Juniors Michael Chatman and Chris Kelley received the red cards for LHS and will miss Thursday's LHS-Free State contest. The game is set for 7 p.m. at YSI.
In Tuesday's junior varsity contest, Olathe East beat LHS, 2-0. Lawrence wing Casey Rahmeier was cited for his play. The Lions are now 2-3-1.
-- Steve Rottinghaus' phone message number is 832-7152. His e-mail address is srottinghaus@ljworld.com
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