Marcus Montano had barely broke a sweat by the time he had his hat trick Monday.
The sophomore led Manteca High’s varsity boys soccer team to a 7-0 drubbing of Escalon on the road. The Buffaloes are now 2-0 in nonleague action.
Montano opened scoring in the fourth and fifth minutes and tallied his third goal in the 17th to increase Manteca’s lead to 5-0. He also assisted Ricardo Marin’s goal in the seventh minute.
Nacho Valdovinos contributed a goal and an assist, and Carlos Belmonte had two assists. Inacis Illan assisted Valdovinos’ goal, and Luis Orozco capped Manteca’s scoring in the second half.
At the end, Manteca held an overwhelming 39-10 advantage in shot attempts. Goalie Abdiel Chiquito collected eight saves.
“Even though we came out strong offensively in the first 20 minutes, we didn’t do a great job of possessing the ball,” Manteca coach Justin Coenenberg said. “In the second half we were able to move the ball and things came together more smoothly. We didn’t have as many scoring opportunities but we dominated possession, which is what I wanted to see.”
Manteca continues its busy early season schedule Wednesday with a home match against Ripon.