WILLIAMSTON — The Southside soccer team needed some time to adjust to Bear Grass’s smaller-than-average field yesterday, but the floodgates opened once the Seahawks gained their bearings, as they went on to win 7-0 over the Bears.

“We were a little slow, probably the first few minutes of the game,” Southside head coach Jay Petty said. “The size of the field (at) Bear Grass, they got just the bare minimum. It usually takes us a few minutes to get our timing down. So the first 10 minutes of the game, 15 minutes of the game, we were a little slow trying to get our timing.”

Part of the adjustment was getting used to the new formation Petty has his team play in when Southside (10-1, 1-0 1A Coastal Plains Conference) plays at schools with smaller fields, such as Bear Grass (3-7, 0-0 1A Atlantic 6). He has one of his two forwards drop back into midfield to give the Seahawks a five-man midfield and a lone forward up top.

“With the size of the field, it gives the one lone forward a little more space to operate, and that’s really what we needed,” Petty said.

After the 15 minutes of acclimatizing to the smaller confines, Petty’s boys exploded for four first-half goals. Jairo Juarez, who dropped back into midfield from his usual forward spot, scored with a tap-in after Trey Branch set him up by laying a ball across the face of goal. Jaime Guzman scored off of a volley from a Victor Gonzalez throw-in, followed by a Victor Gonzalez goal that was set up by Johnathan Hernandez. Hernandez picked up another assist with a throw-in that Eduardo Gonzalez volleyed home.

Leading 4-0 at the halftime break, the Seahawks picked up right where they left off when play resumed in the second half. Starting forward Luke Matthews got himself a pair of goals, the first a simple finish from a Kevin Prado assist. Matthews’ second showcased his poacher’s instincts, pouncing on a loose ball in the box and cleaning up to make the score 6-0. Eduardo Gonzalez joined Matthews as a two-goal scorer, heading in a Santiago Lengyel Serralde cross.

Besides winning by a large margin, Petty was especially happy with how unselfishly his team played.

“They were looking to set each other up to score, and that’s just a really beautiful thing to see, when they’re looking for opportunities to set their fellow teammates up,” Petty said. “You just can’t ask for anything more out of players than that, they’re just being so unselfish. That was just a beautiful part of tonight’s game.”

Southside’s next game is a rematch with Bear Grass at home next Wednesday. Kickoff is scheduled for 6 p.m.