By By STEVE FRANKLIN, Sports Writer
CHOCOWINITY — Southside coach John Lohman decided to shake things up on Monday.
Needing to inject some life into the Seahawks’ struggling offense, Lohman decided to move goalie Hayden Huggins and midfielder Michael Ward to the front line.
It was a move that paid immediate dividends.
Ward recorded his first career hat trick and Huggins added a goal to lead Southside past Perquimans, 5-2.
Perquimans jumped out front in the opening minutes as Chase Baccus was the recipient of a lucky bounce. The Pirates’ forward delivered a corner kick that bounced off Southside goalie Billy Harding’s chest and into the net to give Perquimans a 1-0 lead.
But it was a lead that wouldn’t last for long.
Two minutes after Baccus’ goal, Huggins knotted the game at 1-1 as he delivered a bullet past Pirates goalie Calvin Roland.
In the 35th minute, the Seahawks jumped ahead as Ward notched his first goal.
In the second half, the Seahawks offense continued to pour it on.
Shortly after intermission, Southside’s Joshua Sheppard broke free down the right side of the field and delivered a perfect crossing pass that landed on Ward’s foot, and the forward buried it past helpless Roland.
Less than two minutes later, Sheppard was the beneficiary of another pretty pass. Harding, who moved to forward in the second half, got the ball about 30 yards from the net and dribbled past a pair of defenders before finding Sheppard wide open in front of the goal to make it 4-1.
Perquimans cut the lead to 4-2 in the 65th minute on Baccus’ second goal, before Ward capped the scoring with his third goal of the game in the 74th minute.
Southside (3-2-1) will be back in action Wednesday when it travels to Williamston.