Early in the first half of Tuesday night’s Seymour-Silver Creek boys soccer match, the Kestrel heat stress tracking device set up near the two teams’ benches displayed a heat index of 112.6 degrees.

Somehow, Seymour’s offensive attack was even hotter.

The Owls scored three goals in the first half and added four in the second to defeat Silver Creek, 7-0. It was Seymour’s most explosive offensive showing since an 8-0 victory against Brown County in August of 2019.

Senior Myles Chandler scored twice, and the Owls got a goal each from Dominic Dennis, Juan Fernandez, Bartolome Sebastian, Evan Unterseher and freshman Braylon Floyd to improve to 2-1 on the season.

“The goals are good, but I’m really proud of the shutout,” Seymour head coach Matt Dennis said. “We ended the game with no seniors on the field. We had a couple of freshmen getting their first varsity minutes, which was great. What was better than the seven goals was, five or so of them were things that we trained yesterday and last week. The boys are starting to see it. Even early in the match when we weren’t getting the goals at first, the ideas were there, the patterns were there. We had numbers around the ball.”

The Owls’ attack was dominant throughout, generating 16 first-half shots on goal (nine on target). Seymour ended the game with 25 shots.

Seymour’s defense earned its second clean sheet of the season by limiting Silver Creek (1-2-1) to just four shots. Owl goalkeepers Lance Hubbard and Jonathan Scott each had a save.

The lopsided score allowed Dennis to substitute freely and rest players who are embarking on a 12-day, six-game stretch. The Owls normally dress 17 varsity players but brought up five junior varsity players for Tuesday’s heat-indexed affair.

“We were making subs in the second half to save legs in the heat,” Dennis said. “We’ve got a tough Bloomington North match (on Thursday) and next week our first two conference matches. Our guys are not going to feel any better than they are now until November. Anytime we can get the weight off their legs and make some subs, that’s why we brought the guys today. I was proud that we put some guys in when it was still a competitive match. We didn’t have the fifth and sixth goals yet, and we were still executing the game plan, which was great.”

Dominic Dennis started the cascade 13 minutes into the game when he sent a well-played through ball from David Bartolome past Silver Creek goalie Reubin LaMaster.

It was the first of Bartolome’s three assists during the game.

Chandler authored the night’s prettiest goal when he one-touched a long forward pass from central defender Jake Loebker into the upper reaches of the net.

Chandler’s second goal was simpler than his first. After Bartolome’s cross from the right side was misplayed by LaMaster, Chandler tapped in the Owls’ third goal of the half.

Just five minutes into the second half, after an Owls’ short corner led to a crossing pass by Sebastian, the ball found Fernandez unmarked in front of the Dragons’ goal. The senior finished to extend Seymour’s advantage to 4-0.

Ten minutes later, Sebastian scored. Unterseher and Floyd each scored in the final three minutes to close out the victory.

Following Thursday’s trip to Bloomington North, the Owls host Franklin on Saturday.

Seymour 7, Silver Creek 0

Scoring Summary

First half

S-Dominic Dennis (David Bartolome), 27:44

S-Myles Chandler (Jake Loebker), 9:47

S-Chandler (Bartolome, Dennis), 1:41

Second half

S-Juan Fernandez (Bartolome Sebastian), 35:25

S-Sebastian (Bartolome), 25:35

S-Evan Unterseher, 2:40

S-Braylon Floyd (Fernando Castellanos), 1:20

Statistics

Shots: Silver Creek 4, Seymour 25

Saves: Silver Creek 11, Seymour 2

Fouls: Silver Creek 2, Seymour 10

Corners: Silver Creek 1, Seymour 8