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By ALEC ETHEREDGE | Managing Editor

MONTGOMBERY – It was a county affair at this year’s North-South All-Star boys soccer game in Montgomery on Wednesday, July 19 thanks to four players competing in the event for the North team, which was also led by Pelham head coach Patrick McDonald.

Not only did McDonald lead the team, but he did so with one of his own, Matt Chaux-Alvarez, who joined Chelsea’s Brock Marlow, Oak Mountain’s Om Shrestha and Westminster at Oak Mountain’s Noah Holmes as county players in attendance at this year’s game.

McDonald led the North team to a 6-3 victory thanks in large part to a 4-1 second half that ultimately made the difference in breaking a 2-2 tie at the halftime break.

Despite the game’s high score, it took a while before scoring broke out between the two teams.

The first 25 minutes came and went without the ball finding the back of the net, but at the 26-minute mark, the South team struck on a goal from Talan Galvan to make it 1-0.

The North, however, wasted no time in responding as Cristian Barrientos got a big night started with his lone goal on a night in which he also added three assists.

That became part of an exciting few minutes of action as the two traded goals one more time over the next six minutes to even the score at 2-2 with 6:06 left in the opening period, ultimately leading to a tie at the break.

Similar to the first half, the second half featured a slow start. The two teams had opportunities, but the first 20 minutes of the period were scoreless.

That quickly changed nine seconds later when Shrestha made his presence known on an assist to Owen Bennich, who buried the go-ahead shot for the North team.

That became the first of four goals in less than 10 minutes for the North team, as they built a 6-2 advantage and never looked back.

The South finally responded with 6:45 left to play, but the damage was already done, giving the North a 6-3 victory.

Outside of Shrestha’s assist, Brock Marlow also had several highlights in goal for the North team. The Chelsea keeper finished with two saves, which was a game-high.