Staff photo / Brian Yauger. Champion junior Carter Chapin fires a shot on net during the Flashes’ victory over Liberty on Wednesday at Champion High School.

CHAMPION — Champion controlled pace from the opening kickoff en route to a 8-0 win over Liberty at home.

Being dominant was a team goal from the beginning of the season, and they were able to showcase that on Wednesday.

“At the beginning of the year, we said that we wanted to come in and wanted to play, but we wanted to dominate,” Golden Flashes coach Shawnn Wilson said. “Not dominate by the score, but we want to dominate by how we played with possession and how we played with their attitudes and dominated on just setting a precedent on how we own the field. It’s not the score that matters, it’s how we play as a group.”

Six goals in the first half and eight total goals in the first 50 minutes of the game are a great way to do that.

Senior midfielder Westin Kuhns recorded a hat trick, and sophomore striker Nicolas Abruzzi had a pair of goals in the win.

Carter Chapin, Hunter Maylone and Logan Phillips also registered goals for Champion.

When any player on the roster, and likely multiple, can take over a game, it gives the Flashes a good chance to achieve their goal of dominating.

“Every year we try to make it a team game, but this year they’re playing as a team,” Wilson said. “They’re finally starting to play it, and you can see that. We’re playing everybody, and we’re getting everybody to participate and join in that team atmosphere. … We have a lot of guys that can take over the game, but we have a lot of players that are key in all the positions. It’s not just one. It’s all (of them) in my opinion with this team this year.”

Liberty falls to 3-2 on the season. It’s been a bright season early on for the Leopards, who have already tripled their win total from last season.

Liberty coach David Sierra knew this was going to be an uphill battle. With so many kids on the roster new to soccer, taking on a team with a pedigree like Champion’s is a tough battle.

“We have a lot of young players and are inexperienced, and we’re still getting there,” Sierra said. “Obviously, Champion is a good team, so we knew we were going to have our issues.

“We just need to keep building each and every game. I got a lot of kids that have never played soccer. A lot of first, second-year players, so we’re just building each game with the basics, working on our passing, spacing, and positioning.”

The Leopards look to recover at home on Monday when they play host to Waterloo.

Champion (6-0) has conceded just three goals so far this year and has outscored its opponents 31-3. The Flashes aim to keep the success rolling with a road game against LaBrae on Monday.

With a tough stretch that includes Crestview and Warren G. Harding on the slate, Wilson wants his team to just keep going.

“I tell them it’s like a train, you want to keep on going forward and you keep on gaining speed,” he said. “It’s hard for a train to go backwards. We don’t want to slam on our brakes, we want to keep the train rolling.”