Rocklin boys hold off Antelope to storm out to winning start

As soon as the ball left Luke Georgeson's right foot, the relief could be seen on his face. The sophomore's first varsity goal, in the 14th minute, proved to be decisive for Rocklin High School in its 2-1 victory over Antelope at Heart Health Park in Sacramento on Saturday. "As soon as I saw the ball go into the net, I was really excited," Georgeson said. "My goal before the game was that I was going to try and score in my first game, so it was really exciting to do that in my first game." "Luke's a great player with a great, great attitude that the lads love him. They were all very excited for him to score that," Rocklin coach Dale Barton said. "He's definitely a good asset to the program and it was a good finish." The conditions were far from ideal. Wind and rain pounded the players, and several balls died on the pitch when they hit a puddle or wet spot. "We tell the boys to play to the conditions, you know, but it's obviously not the way we want to play," Barton said. "There were times out there today we were trying to play around the back and it's just a mess out there. The ball was getting held up in the water so we had to be more direct and play to the conditions and look for those dry spots on the field today. But the boys had fun in it, for sure." All of the offense took place in the first 15 minutes of the match. Rocklin's Nikola Radovic opened the scoring in the second minute, putting a ball in the upper right corner of the net. That lead was short-lived, as the Titans' striker delivered an equalizer five minutes later off a rebound shot on a counter attack. Georgeson's decisive goal came shortly after. The Thunder dominated possession and field position in the second half, keeping the ball away from Antelope and in their half of the pitch. The Titans mustered some chances in the final minutes, but it was nothing threatening as the Thunder hung on for the season-opening victory. The win already matches Rocklin's win total from last season when it finished 1-8-6. After finding a way to win on a stormy afternoon, the Thunder is confident it can build on the victory and take momentum into league play. "We've got a great group of guys here and they all love each other. They work for each other and they're just really composed," Barton said. "That's a credit to them and a credit to the way they play." The Thunder will be back in action this weekend against Kennedy, Lincoln and Elk Grove in the Del Campo Tournament.