The Lansdowne boys' soccer team won its 10th straight game when they defeated neighborhood rival Western Tech, 8-1, on Wednesday night at Lansdowne High.
The Vikings opened the season with a 2-2 tie with Owings Mills and have won every game since, while outscoring their opponents 67-6.
A win over Overlea on Thursday night will give the Vikings (10-0-1) their second straight unbeaten regular season.
Last year, they finished the regular season with an 11-0-1 record. The only blemish was a 1-1 tie with Owings Mills in the second game of the season.
Against Western Tech (6-5), the Vikings got a break when the Wolverines starting keeper, sophomore Justin McKoy, left the game with a head injury with 25:41 left in the first half.
Freshman backup keeper David Kolarek was already out with a neck injury, so junior forward Jonathan Escamilla had to be the understudy.
"He's the emergency for sure," Western Tech coach Travis Saulsbury said.
When Escamilla entered, Lansdowne had already led 1-0 on a goal by Bryan Rios Buruca 5:05 into the contest.
He was assisted by a perfect cross from Jose Munoz.
"It was a good start for the game," Rios Buruca said. "It was a good assist. I don't know who did it, but it was good."
They almost scored again less than 10 minutes later, but a shot by Ronald Morales hit the corner of the crossbar.
McKoy had a save on a shot from Rios Buruca when he came out and cut off the angle, but he left the game with the injury shortly after that.
Oscar Madrid Molina and Ling Har tested the new goalie early, but Munoz made it 2-0 with 22:05 left.
Michael Onasanya came off the bench to push the lead to 3-0 with 1:37 left in the half.
"We use him as a sparkplug off the bench," Lansdowne coach George Dunn said.
"It worked out well for us in the first half," assistant coach Rob Boutwell added.
It carried over into the second half as Onasanya added a goal and assist.
Rios Buruca scored two more goals to net a hat trick and Hung Naing scored a pair of goals and Paul Gaylon and Eli Andrews had assists as the Vikings pulled away.
Western Tech did cut the lead to 3-1 on a penalty kick by Jerry Heredia with just under seven minutes gone into the second half, but the Vikings poured it on after that score.
"I'm proud of our guys," Saulsbury said. "To lose two starters in the first half and keep battling, they did well. That is a heckuva team we played. They are really, really good."
Dunn would like to see his explosive squad start a little earlier.
"I hope that doesn't come back to kick us in the butt in the playoffs," Dunn said. "It just takes us a while to get started sometimes. Once we get our rhythm going and start putting some goals up, I feel pretty good about it."
Western Tech had shots on goal in the second half by Jose Romero and Diop Madiop and some spirited play from Janatele Abuye, but they were overshadowed by the Vikings' explosive offense.
"That was a game where we got to get a lot of guys get in and play and mix it up and see what we have getting ready for the playoff run coming up next week," Dunn said.
With no junior varsity team, Saulsbury starts freshman Romero and Peter Jauquet, but he has seen them jell along with the seniors.
"We start two true freshmen, but it's a step for the future," Saulsbury said. "We've got some really good seniors who have been great leaders for us and are great competitors. We've gotten better throughout the season."
Lansdowne, which lost 3-1 to Franklin last year in the Class 3A Section I finals, hopes to go further in the postseason.
"We have guys now that have been playing together for a while and they are starting to jell at the right time," Dunn said.