With a showdown against perennial powerhouse South Tahoe three days away, it was only natural that Carson High's boys soccer team overlooked North Valleys.
It took a North Valleys goal in the ninth minute to shake the Senators out of their slumber.
Carson went on to score five unanswered goals, two by Ernesto Ayala, en route to a 5-1 Sierra League win Wednesday night.
The win gives Carson a 2-0 league mark and a 4-1 record overall. The Senators host South Tahoe at 11 a.m.
"Yeah, its possible they were (thinking about South Tahoe)," Carson coach Jason Koop said. "I just think they took North Valleys for granted. That is a completely different team than the one we saw at Galena. That first goal woke us up a little bit."
Koop was referring to the goal scored by NV's Jonas Mayer, who got behind the Carson defense and rolled one past goalie Bud Kop, who came out late.
Carson had three good scoring opportunities over the next eight minutes, but came up empty.
Ayala broke the scoring drought in the 18th minute when he headed a pass past North Valley goalie Erwin Lemus, who had 10 saves on 24 shots.
Nearly 6 1/2 minutes later, North Valleys was unable to clear a loose ball out of its own end, and Loren Wooldridge beat Lemus to make it 2-1.
"We had no communication out there (in the first half)," Koop said. "I told them they needed to start doing the things they'd done the past four weeks. It was a completely different second half."
The Senators peppered Lemus early and often with shots in the final 40 minutes.
In the 51st minute, Jeremiah Schenzel stole the ball from William Velez, who was trying to clear the ball out, and beat Lemus to make it 3-0.
Approximately 4 1/2 minutes later, Lemus blocked a Carson shot from point-blank range, only to have Ayala punch it in for his second goal.
That score seemed to deflate North Valleys, which didn't come close to a goal in the final 20-plus minutes of the contest thanks to the defensive efforts of Zach Weisman, Kevin Brush, Brian Arce and Jose Aguilar. North Valleys managed just seven shots on goal.
"We attacked well, but the defense started everything," Koop said. "Kevin (Brush) made a huge difference with balls in the air. When he gets up in the air, they were unable to get a clear header."
CARSON 10, NORTH VALLEYS JV 0
Martin Azzam scored a hat trick and Daniel Scarbrough added two scores to lead Carson to an easy win.
Andrew Hill and John Villagrana added a goal and an assist apiece. Donovan Sanchez, Chris Browne and Coulter Thomas each scored a goal.
Carson held North Valleys to one shot on goal thanks to the work of Jared Baxter, Villagrana, Luis Lopez and Alex Updegrove.
Contact Darrell Moody at dmoody@nevadaappeal.com or 881-1281.