TOWAMENCIN – On a sultry summer-like afternoon when the sun was beating down on the field, the North Penn Knights soccer team (2-0) stayed equally hot as they defeated CB South 4-0 behind goals from junior Mike Kohler, senior Musa Sheriff, and junior Nate Baxter.

While the four-goal difference might suggest domination from the Knights, the game was more of a grind-it-out, gritty victory with some help from Lady Luck.

“It was really a 2-0 game,” said Coach Paul Duddy. “They made a couple big time mistakes and we took advantage of them.”

After a tight first 20 minutes, the home team opened up the scoring thanks to Mike Kohler. After senior Eric Rosenblatt’s long throw-in into the box, Musa Sheriff laid the ball onto the junior goal scorer who slotted it in the bottom left corner.

North Penn failed to find the scoresheet again until the second half. Countering CB South’s aggressive attack, senior Owen Nakatani, after a passing sequence with Kohler, sent the ball through to junior striker Nate Baxter who calmly finished the one-on-one chance.

As the game was nearing the end, a frustrated CB South team began to put high pressure and extra men on the attack, which backfired. After a long punt from senior goalkeeper Jordan Katz, the away team center back made an unfortunate error of heading the ball into his own net, making the score 3-0.

Sheriff put the final nail in the coffin when he looped the goalie from far out, extending the Knights’ lead to 4.

However, North Penn was also hurt by their own lack of discipline, as they were caught offside six times by the high defensive line of CB South.

“We just didn’t do a good job recognizing it,” said Duddy, “and they trapped us by few feats. It’s something that we have to work on.”

Even with the amount of goals scored, the focus was once again on the defensive side of the ball. Along with Katz, all the defenders scratched and clawed their way to the ball, sacrificing their bodies to stop a run or block a shot.

“The defense is the best,” said Katz, “whenever they take the ball away, it’s always a load off of my chest.”

Meanwhile, in JV action, NP took home a 3-0 win thanks to the goals from Brett Katz, Andrew Aziz, and Luke McMahon.

The Knights will travel to CB East Friday, looking to continue their hot start.