Orland armada shoots down Pirates

It was a leaky ship with a skeleton crew that drifted into Orland from Wheatland on Friday, and the Orland High boys soccer team plundered the Pirates 9-0.

Wheatland had only 10 players in uniform, so in the spirit of sportsmanship the Trojans only sent 10 players onto the pitch for a contest that ended up being more of a "friendly" than a competitive match.

With a stiff wind blowing directly in the faces of the Pirates for the first half, nearly all of the action took place on their side of the field, as the Trojans peppered the Wheatland cage with shot after shot.

Marcos Martinez opened the scoring for Orland in the 20th minute, and before the halftime whistle sounded the Trojans had added goals by Erick Ruiz, Mirsha Rosas, another by Martinez, and Julio Vallejo to go up 5-0.

The Trojans were also playing without a few players suited up, as Aldrick Rosas was making a college visit and a few Trojans were facing disciplinary action for their conduct the day before.

With the outcome against the Pirates never in question, Orland coach Ross Sandberg let his players play for fun, while hoping they all stayed free from injury.

"I'm letting them play what they want," he said of Friday's lineup. "With 10 days off (until their first playoff game) we want to work on conditioning. It's sometimes hard to keep your edge."

After John Macedonio and Bryan Perez enjoyed putting their first balls of the season into the twine, Sandberg instructed his players to only use headers to put the ball on goal.

Martinez added his third goal of the game and Diago Mercado also scored.

Macedonio assisted on three of the scores, Martinez and Rosas each added a pair of assists, and Mercado, Alexis Lira and Israel Zintzun also provided assists.

Orland finished the season with a record of 17-0-1, and won the Butte View League with a mark of 12-0.

The Trojans were made the top seed and received a first-round bye in the Division II playoffs. They will host the winner between No. 4 Anderson and No. 5 Gridley on Feb. 19.

CONTACT Craig Purcell at 824-1036 or cpurcell@tcnpress.com.