Lakeland Christian Academy’s Tori Calizo celebrates one of her four goals Thursday against Jimtown. (Photos by Mike Deak)

WINONA LAKE – It was a stage fit for a big moment, and Lakeland Christian Academy’s prolific seniors took a bow. LCA’s Tori Calizo and Parker Stewart both went wild in lopsided Senior Night games, Calizo leading the Lady Cougars to an 8-0 throttling of Jimtown and Stewart helping the Cougars to a 5-0 win against Tippecanoe Valley in matches played Thursday evening at Grace College.

LCA GIRLS 8, JIMTOWN 0

LCA’s Natalie Buller (15) works into the Jimtown zone.

It was a fitting moment for Tori Calizo in her senior send-off. Calizo scored four goals and added two assists in a dominant display against a shellshocked Jimmies defense. Sister Jessi Calizo added two goals and three assists, the two connecting with each other on the team’s first four goals. After Jessi took a pass from Tori to open the scoring in the 24th minute, Jessi returned the favor just three minutes later.

The score held until seven minutes into the second half, where a long counter from Tori found Jessi into space, and drawing the keeper out, Jessi tapped the ball back to Tori for the easy tuck. Two more long through passes, one from Jessi and the next from Joy Hanes, each found Tori speeding into an unmarked Jimtown penalty box and each resulted in a goal.

Avery Hobbs and Olivia Miller both scored their first goals of the season as the wheels completely fell off the Jimtown wagon. Abi Burns assisted on the Miller goal.

Finley Hobbs had very little to do in her goal, stopping Jimtown’s only shot in the 39th minute to earn the clean sheet. LCA outshot Jimtown 19-1 and held a 17-0 advantage in shots on target.

“I was expecting to see it, playing at Grace College and it being Senior Night, doesn’t surprise me to see Tori play like that,” said LCA head coach Nat Raber. “You are going to see those types of things happen on a Senior Night. The girls were jacked up after our game with Argos to continue playing well, and it didn’t surprise me to see them get this type of result today.

“I didn’t think she would score four goals and have a couple assists like she did, but she is fully capable of playing like that. Her and Jessi are really playing well, and a lot of the girls got involved, which is what we like to see. Especially this time of year when the tournament is just around the corner.”

LCA improves to 8-4 on the season, with its final home matches against Maconaquah Saturday morning and Culver on Tuesday.

LCA BOYS 5, TIPPECANOE VALLEY 0

Tippecanoe Valley’s Christian Ramirez rifles the ball out of danger as LCA offensive players close in.

Stewart’s phenomenal season continued against Valley, where the senior scoring dynamo recorded his sixth straight hat trick. His goal in the 23rd minute broke a scoreless deadlock that, at that point, saw the two teams only have one shot find its target. The levee then broke for the Valley defense as Stewart got hot quick, taking a pass into the Valley box and was subsequently taken down, drawing the penalty that Landon Paris converted.

Just three minutes later, Josh Jones sent a ball into the Valley third, to which Stewart collected, made a very clever flick to himself and ripped a winner past Alexis Hernandez for a shocking 3-0 Cougar lead.

“We wanted to bracket Parker, try to get two players around him, but you saw it, he’s just a special player,” started Tippecanoe Valley head coach Andrew Luce. “He’s their guy. We knew going in that we would have to at least slow him down and we weren’t able to do that. Obviously, he’s the difference in the game.”

Stewart earned the hattie off a rocket from close to 30 yards out in the 48th minute, and was inches away from pulling a fourth and fifth goal later in the half on touches the Indiana Wesleyan-bound star would love to have back.

Keeping up with the stats, Stewart is up to 32 goals this season, sitting third in the state in goals and fifth in overall scoring (71 points). Stewart is now in the national conversation, his 32 goals putting him 10th in the country in that category. Manchester’s Harley Kruschwitz actually leads the United States, per MaxPreps, with 36 goals after potting a pair against Woodlan Thursday afternoon.

“Parker’s very dynamic, he doesn’t stay stationary and he moves all over the field,” stated LCA head coach Dan Miller. “He makes it hard to man mark. And he’s smart on his runs. We need to get him some help on the runs and get some guys open. But Parker is so good. He finds ways to get open and shoot even with all the attention. And that’s only going to allow more of our guys find chances the more Parker keeps scoring.”

A second penalty committed by Valley allowed Brayden Lane to tuck home a goal, LCA’s fifth of the night.

Peter Koller and Lane combined to make three saves for the shutout. Hernandez made nine saves in net for the Vikings. LCA took 26 shots on the Vikings, putting 14 on target. Valley managed just four shots, it’s best attempt came from Christian Ramirez with a rip off the crossbar early in the second half.

LCA improves to 8-4 on the season with a pair of tough road contests ahead starting with Rochester Saturday morning and Culver Academy Tuesday. Valley, which came into the night on a four-match winning streak, drops to 4-6-1. It will turn its focus to Saturday’s Winamac Tournament.

LCA’s Parker Stewart is brought down in the penalty area by Tippecanoe Valley defender Arturo Dominguez. LCA would convert the penalty to take a 2-0 lead.