FAIRBORN — The only thing Braden Guinther did wrong on Tuesday was forget his road jersey.
Guinther, who normally wears jersey No. 7 for the Sidney Yellow Jackets, wore jersey No. 10 in an Aug. 20 battle with host Fairborn, and fans saw a lot of it.
The junior left wing scored three goals in the first half, then capped the night with another goal late in the second, as Sidney rolled to a 6-2 win at Fairborn High School. It was the first Miami Valley League game for both squads, which both compete in the MVL Valley Division.
The speedy Yellow Jacket appeared to outrace Fairborn’s defensive coverage on each of his three first-half goals. Fellow speedster Jalen Hudgins, a senior striker, scored the first goal of the match on an equally quick counter play that followed an early Fairborn corner kick try.
Sidney coach Jamie Fridley said Hudgins and Guinther were definitely the keys to Tuesday’s win. He said the team made some adjustments after a season opening shutout loss to Northmont.
“We were attacking a whole lot more, and we kinda changed the personnel around a bit,” Fridley said. “We shifted our target with our wing and had a stronger target with Jalen Hudgins up top, which made a bigger difference. He’s a strong player that can hold the ball more, which gives us scoring chances a little easier.”
Hudgins passed off to sophomore midfielder Carson Taylor for a second-half goal as well.
Fairborn’s Donovan Dierker scored both of the Skyhawks goals in the second half. He scored one off an assist by senior midfielder Rahjay Morgan; the other from Keegan Dierker.
“We had a really good second half,” Fairborn coach Greg Dierker said. “We’ve been starting out slow all season, and so it’s one of those things where Sidney had two really good strong forwards, and we didn’t keep up with them. They ran right by us.
“I’m okay with how we played in the second half, but the first half was disappointing.”
Sidney (1-1-0, 1-0-0 MVL Valley) has plays next on Thursday at Bellefontaine.
“Everything is starting to come together for us,” Fridley said. “We are starting get our chemistry in the midfield and in the forwards. Ttonight proved it with six goals from those two areas on the field, but we still have some cleaning up to do.”
