A match between the top two teams in the Mountain Valley Athletic Conference did not turn out the way Husky fans had hoped for after Wilkes Central tallied four second-half goals to defeat the Huskies 5-1.

The Huskies were aggressive early on, getting an early shot on goal by sophomore Frank Ledezma that was stopped by Eagle goalkeeper Devan Clark.

It would be Wilkes Central that put up the first goal, getting a shot by keeper Braxton Treadway from leading scorer and captain, Jesse Massucco, in the eighth minute.

Ashe responded in the 26th minute with a goal from Sam Bowers as he blasted a shot past Clark in the net for the equalizing score.

Ledezma nearly put the Huskies out in front in the 35th minute when his shot rolled just to the left of the net. That would be the closest either team would get to scoring in the final minutes as the game went to the halftime break, deadlocked at 1-1.

Wilkes Central turned up the offensive pressure coming out for the second half. Will Cornette came close to getting the second goal for the Eagles, but his shot was wide left of the target. In the 46th minute, Van Morris had a free kick opportunity for Wilkes Central, but the Husky defense stood strong and kept the ball away from the net. Just one minute later, Yoni Limon fired a shot that landed squarely on the goalpost and was grabbed quickly by Treadway.

The Eagles finally saw the offensive pressure pay off in the 53rd minute when Massucco scored his second goal of the evening to put Wilkes Central back in front, 2-1. Massucco then finished off the hat-trick, getting his third goal in the 60th minute.

Following a nice pass from midfield, Massucco drew a penalty kick after being fouled inside the box. Senior Mike Andreski buried the penalty kick into the corner of the net, extending the Eagle lead to 4-1.

Ashe had three really good scoring opportunities in the final 10 minutes of action. Ledezma, Lucas Zeller, and Honor Rognstad all had shot opportunities from inside the box that were knocked away or stopped by Clark.

After a Husky shot attempt, the Eagles countered in the closing seconds to score the fifth goal of the game as Limon got his shot by the Ashe keeper to remain undefeated in MVAC play.

With the win, Wilkes Central moved to 8-2 overall and 5-0 in conference play. Ashe dropped to 7-3 overall and 5-1 in conference play. Next week, the Huskies will be on the road against a winless East Wilkes team on Monday, and then plays its final non-conference match of the year against Oak Hill Academy on Wednesday.

MVAC soccer standings

1. Wilkes Central, 5-0

2. Ashe County, 5-1

3. Starmount, 3-1-1

4. Forbush, 2-1-1

5. North Wilkes, 2-2

6. Elkin, 2-2

7. Alleghany, 1-3

8. West Wilkes, 1-5

9. East Wilkes, 0-6