Seniors power Moriarty boys soccer past Belen in 4-0 rout

MORIARTY, N.M. — Senior midfielder Wesley Francis netted a pair of second-half goals in his return from a nagging hamstring injury, fueling a dominant offensive performance as the Moriarty Pintos shut out the Belen Eagles 4-0 at home Thursday.

The win evens the Pintos record at 2-2 after Moriarty went on the road and blanked Grants 6-0 on Tuesday.

Moriarty took a few minutes to settle into a rhythm in the opening stages before finding its footing and overwhelming the Eagles with sustained pressure and sharp ball movement. Senior forward Jonah Buck provided the breakthrough to give the Pintos an early 1-0 advantage.

Senior forward Sam Pearce kept the momentum going late in the first half, striking to double the lead and send Moriarty into the break holding a 2-0 cushion.

Pintos head coach Jordon Allcorn noted that while the team opened with some early hesitation, the players quickly adapted and trusted the game plan.

“Still was a little bit of a nervy start, and I think that’s still that like maybe PTSD from the past of ‘we’re not good enough’ kind of thing, and then kind of caught our stride,” Allcorn said. “What we’re really doing a good job of is trusting each other. I think we’ve been really trying to work on our guys that think they need to do everything, that they don’t have to. That they can rely on their teammates all around, and we can all play our positions.”

Allcorn added that positional adjustments and the return of key upperclassmen have accelerated the squad’s growth over the last two contests.

“We switched some things up from the first two games positionally, and it helped getting Jonah Buck back his last two games,” Allcorn said. “Overall, I think we’re just kind of finding our identity. The first game I felt we just didn’t come to play, with the energy and hesitancy all around the field. Then it carried over into that first half against Highland, we had a lightning delay, and we came out and it was much better. But these last two, I feel like we made two pretty big strides forward.”

The second half belonged to Francis, who was eager to make an impact after battling back from a hamstring overextension originally suffered during baseball and aggravated over the summer.

Francis pushed the margin to 3-0 on a long-range strike set up through the midfield by Nathan Dick, converting from well outside the box after spotting a lane in the Belen defense.

Minutes later, Francis put the contest completely out of reach. Pearce played a ball back into the box that deflected off a defender, and Francis corralled the loose ball before burying a clean finish into the top corner of the net.

“Well, I saw a lot of openings, and I wanted to pass, but I saw the opportunity and I just took it,” Francis said of his second-half scores. “They weren’t very good shots, but they were in spots.”

For Francis, the breakout performance was also fueled by the frustration of sitting on the sidelines and the reality of his final prep campaign.

“I get kind of mad about my injuries, so I was ready to play today,” Francis said. “As a captain, I like to see my team… they need to get ready. We’ve got a lot of seniors this year. This year we need to go for it.”