Kankakee Valley High School

The KV varsity boys soccer team earned its third straight win to begin the season with a dominate 4-0 shutout victory over the Kouts Mustangs on Saturday afternoon. The win was the Kougars second shutout victory of the week and moves their overall record to a perfect 3-0 to start the 2025 fall campaign. From the start of the game, the Kougars controlled possession and pushed the attacking pace at the Mustang defense. Some timely saves and defensive clearances kept the Kougars off the scoreboard for the first 15 minutes. However at the 16 minute mark, the Kougars would finally strike first. Sophomore Creed Veach's pass found senior Landon Palfi towards the top of the Mustang penalty box. Palfi's right-footed shot to the lower left corner beat the Kouts keeper to give KV the early 1-0 lead. Eight minutes later, freshman Bryce Moore's individual effort inside the Mustang penalty box led to a pass that hit sophomore Jorge Pena. Pena was able to fake out multiple Kouts defenders and struck a hard left-footed shot that beat the Mustang keeper to give the Kougars a 2-0 advantage. KV had multiple opportunities to extend the lead, but the score would remain a two goal advantage heading into halftime. In the second half, the Kougars continued to dominate possession and offensive chances. Many corner kick and free kick opportunities were had in addition to shots on and off target. Eight minutes into the half, sophomore William Nava Contreras picked the pocket of a Kouts defender. His high arching shot from just outside the far right corner of the Kouts penalty box sailed over the Mustang keeper to give the Kougars a 3-0 lead. The final goal for KV came just under three minutes left in the game. Jorge Pena's through-ball that split two Kouts defenders inside the penalty box found a streaking Bryce Moore. He would calmly place his shot to the lower right corner to round out the scoring for the Kougars. The KV defense was solid throughout the match and limited Kouts on their offensive chances. Sophomore keeper Damien Vargas finished with three saves in the game. Defenders John Pawlak, Cole Armstrong, Trevor Poplawski, Jake Hamstra, Shane Tallos, Brad Turoci, and Ayden Lewis all contributed to keeping the clean sheet. "We weren't as sharp today as we were in our first two games, but the team still played well," said head KV coach Jovan Jeftich. "We were able to control the ball for a majority of the game, which made it tough on our opponent. I'm proud of the effort put forth by all players today, especially with this being our first road test of the season. Winning three games in six days to start the season doesn't happen often. We couldn't have asked for a better start, but we know it's only going to get tougher as the season progresses. We'll celebrate this victory and get ready for our first big road conference game of the season next week." The Kougars will next travel to Highland High School on Wednesday afternoon. Kick off is set for a 6 p.m. start. Game Statistics Goals Landon Palfi 1 Jorge Pena 1 William Nava Contreras 1 Bryce Moore 1 Assists Creed Veach 1 Bryce Moore 1 Jorge Pena 1 Saves Damien Vargas 3 Record 3-0