Timberwolves Blank Oak Grove Behind Betonie’s Two Goals

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Carter Betonie scored two first-half goals and Noah Gomez added insurance after the break as East Mountain shut out Oak Grove Classical Academy 3-0 in District 1-3A boys soccer play Tuesday.

With the road victory, East Mountain improved to 12-3 overall and 3-2 in district play, while Oak Grove dropped to 6-6-3 overall and 0-3-2 in district action.

Betonie made an immediate impact after earning a spot in the starting lineup. The forward opened the scoring in the eighth minute and doubled the Timberwolves’ lead before halftime.

“He got the start today … and he showed out for us,” East Mountain head coach Colton Oord said. “He’s wanted more minutes, and stuff like today really hits that for him. He made a huge difference in that first half.”

Gomez capped the scoring in the second half, capitalizing from distance as the Timberwolves deliberately looked to test Oak Grove from beyond the penalty area. Facing opponents increasingly prepared to pack their defense against through balls, Oord said East Mountain focused on generating shots from deeper positions.

“Teams know we can play a through ball and run, so they’re sitting in a lot lower of a block,” Oord said. “It’s opening a little bit more space. … Today, just trying to find different ways to finish rather than how we kind of did the first half of the season.”

The shutout provided key momentum as East Mountain turns to the second half of the district slate with state tournament seeding in focus.

“Three-nil always feels like a good soccer score,” Oord said. “You keep them out, you put three away — that’s kind of an ideal scoreline for our team. We’ve recognized we’re not great playing on the road, so we’ve got to get a top-eight seed, and to do that we’ve got to go through district and get as many wins as we can to finish out.”