Jim Walker
jim.walker@irontontribune.com

SOUTH POINT — Tanner Runyon turned igniter.
With a blasé atmosphere early, Runyon scored a goal that ignited South Point and the Pointers went on to edge the Fairland Dragons 2-1 in an Ohio Valley Conference game on Thursday.
“For whatever reason, there wasn’t a great atmosphere or build up to this game,” said Pointers’ coach Zach Jenkins.
“Fortunately, Tanner got us going early on a nice move and then turned on the speed to turn the corner. After that I thought we played well and with a lot of intensity in spurts.”
Runyon’s unassisted goal at the 3-minute mark made it 1-0 at the half.
Joey Bloebaum then had a 60-yard run along the sidelines and fed Levi Lawson for a goal with 45:00 on the second half clock and the Pointers were up 2-0.
“That was probably the best game of the season so far for Joey Bloebaum. He was very active both outside and inside the midfield for us,” said Jenkins.
Fairland got an unassisted goal from Sam Miller at the 74-minute mark but the Pointers held on for the Ohio Valley Conference win.
“Fairland always does a good job keeping the ball in front of them and making your shots difficult, especially at their place. Their keeper made 3 or 4 real nice saves or we could have put the game out of reach,” said Jenkins.
The Pointers had 11 corner kicks and goalkeeper Xander Dornon had 8 saves. Fairland got 3 corner kicks and keeper Jamison Lauder had 13 saves.
On Saturday, the Pointers edged the Grace Christian Soldiers on Saturday in the first annual Riverside Physical Therapy Soccer Showcase.
“This was a dogfight as we expected,” said Jenkins. “The came in last year and knocked us off 2-1 with a couple of goals late.”
Josh Helton had two goals while Levi Lawson and Joey Bloebaum had one each.
Helton and Bloebaum each had a save.
Pointers’ goalkeeper Xander Dornon had 11 saves and Christian Dornon had one.
“The biggest difference was our midfield play. We dominated the middle half of the field for 60 to 65 minutes of the game,” said Jenkins.
South Point (5-2, 2-1) will host Johnson Central on Monday and visit Chesapeake on Tuesday and Rock Hill on Thursday.
Thursday’s Game
South Point 1 1 = 2
Fairland 0 1 = 1
First Half
SP – Tanner Runyon (unassisted) 3:00
Second Half
SP – Levi Lawson (assisted by Joey Bloebaum) 45:00
Fa – Sam Miller (unassisted) 74:00
Corner kicks – South Point 11, Fairland 3
Saves – SP goalkeeper Xander Dornon 8; FHS goalkeeper Jamison Lauder 13
Saturday’s Game
Grace Christian 1 2 = 3
South Point 2 2 = 4
First Half
SP – Levi Lawson (unassisted) 17:00
GC – Goal (assisted by Grant Webb) 23:00
SP – Josh Helton (unassisted) 38:00
Second Half
SP – Josh Helton (assisted by Joey Bloebaum) 58:00
SP – Joey Bloebaum (assisted by Josh Helton) 63:00
GC – Goal (assisted by Grant Webb) 77:00
GC – Jarred Porter (unassisted) 78:00
Corner kicks – South Point 6, Grace Christian 5
Saves – SP goalkeeper Xander Dornon 11, Christian Dornon 1; Grace Christian 13
Riverside Physical Therapy
Soccer Showcase Results
Girls’ Scores
South Point 0, Boyd County, Ky. 0
Rock Hill 3, Johnson Central, Ky. 3
Boys’ Scores
Boyd County, Ky. 1, Logan Elm 0
Gallipolis Middle School 6, South Point Middle School 1
Jackson 2, Rock Hill 1
South Point 4, Grace Christian 3