Perfect Tigers play for district crown

Heath Orr played the typical role of an underclassman on the varsity squad during his first two years in Central's soccer program.

Orr tallied a handful of goals and, more importantly, gained valuable varsity experience. But on a team with stars like John Mark Thompson, now playing soccer at Notre Dame, Orr's offensive potential had not reached the surface.

With a roster filled with up-and-coming juniors last season, Orr took over the offensive reins in a big way. By the time the regular season ended, Orr had passed Thompson's single-season school record of 26 goals. Before it was all over, he pushed the mark to 29 goals.

"He's always been a goal scorer," Central coach Tom Doyle said of Orr. "It seems like he's always had a knack for putting the ball in the net."

On Monday, Orr's goal against Jackson in the Class 3, District 1 semifinals matched his total from last year and made him Central's all-time leading goal scorer. Orr will look to build on his school-record 64 goals tonight against Poplar Bluff in the district finals.

Top-seeded Central, which is 23-0, has a talented group of playmakers to go with the high-scoring forward.

"Without my teammates none of the goals would be possible," Orr said.

Goals could be hard to come by for the Tigers tonight. Central edged second-seeded Poplar Bluff 1-0 in their last meeting at Poplar Bluff.

Orr said while he'd like to break his single-season goal record, winning the district is all that matters.

"You like to score, but you like to win more," he said.

Tonight's winner will play in a sectional game Tuesday at Houck Stadium.

Orr said he knows the Mules will be a tough to beat, but he feels this is a Central team that can do well in the playoffs.

"If we can get to the sectionals, I feel we have a good shot of going all the way," he said. "Just getting by the teams that know you is the hard part."