Teams always want to get off to quick starts, and they don't come much quicker in soccer than scoring in 53 seconds.
Having all but clinched first place in the Capital City Invitational, the Jefferson City Jays took to the field against Raymore-Peculiar on Saturday afternoon looking to make it a certainty.
It was over in a flash.
Despite having one goal waved off due to being offsides in the opening seconds, the Jays still got a score after just 53 seconds when Spencer Bone made a nice move in the box, split a pair of defenders and slotted it high and to the goalkeeper's right side.
When informed after the game just how quick a score it was, Bone was almost speechless.
"Wow. Dang," he said simply.
Bone, who scored two goals in all three of Jefferson City's games in the event, said the first against Ray-Pec was pretty easy.
"The ball was there, I saw an opening in the defense and I just got lucky," he said. "It just kind of happened."
With about 23 minutes left in the opening half, Jordan Carron controlled a sweet pass from Alec Propst and put it home to make it 2-0.
Ten minutes later, Bone was at it again. Logan Horn slipped a pass to Bone, who made a move, pulled the ball back and ripped a low shot to the right of the keeper.
"I think our ability to stretch the field and possess it really took the fight out of them," Bone said of Ray-Pec. "They were getting tired. It's hard to play the game when you don't have the ball, and we had the ball for a while."
The Jays opened the day with a 3-0 win against Poplar Bluff. Bone had two goals and an assist, while Colton Acock scored the other goal. Horn and Jastin Magallanes had assists.
The points formula for the tournament awards three points for a win and one for a tie, plus a point for each goal scored in a game, up to three points. There is also a bonus point awarded for a shutout, meaning the perfect score for a game is seven points.
Jefferson City's three-game line for the weekend? 7-7-7.
"I told the kids coming in I was more concerned about how we played and building momentum off of this than winning a tournament," Horn said. "But not only did we play well, but that's six wins in a row and six shutouts in a row. Those are all confidence builders."
The Jays won the tournament for the fourth straight year. Sedalia Smith-Cotton was second with 17 points.
"I think our back line is starting to play better, and Zach Brooks has been extremely solid in goal," Eddie Horn said. "Spencer Bone is a little bit on fire right now, and we scored goals early in every game and that takes the pressure off.
"We're getting a lot more patient and our decision-making is getting better, too. There's a lot of positives to take away from the weekend."
One of those positives was the Jays emerged almost injury-free, and several different players got time on the field.
The Jays (6-2) are off until they play Friday and Saturday in the Kickapoo Tournament.