The Jefferson City Jays and Battle Spartans played the full 80 minutes Tuesday night at the 179 Soccer Park.
Jefferson City coach Eddie Horn figures his team really played about a quarter of that.
"We had a good 15 minutes in the first half and about 11/2 minutes in the second half," Horn said.
Strangely enough, that's when they Jays scored all of their goals in a 5-0 win against the Spartans.
"We were a long way away from playing 80," Horn said.
The Spartans entered Tuesday night's contest with a 1-12 record.
"I don't care who it is, you have to have respect for them," Horn said. "I called around and had some people tell me they had to be the best 1-12 in the state.
"Now, you're 1-12, but they have some talent and they had a plan coming in here."
That plan was to pack it tight on the defensive end and look for a chance for a breakaway on the offensive side.
The Jays controlled the ball for the opening seven minutes and had a corner kick. And when the Spartans turned it away, they also turned it into a breakaway that ultimately was unsuccessful.
"That showed us they were here to play, they did a good job with it for the first 20 minutes or so," Horn said. "We were just fumbling around with the ball in the final offensive third."
Things changed when Logan Horn was moved up top to provide a little more offense.
"That settled us down and we started to get some decent looks," Eddie Horn said.
And some goals.
Erich Sporleder got the Jays on the board midway through the half off an assist by Jordan Carron. That was the first of four scores in a 10-minute span.
"That opened the floodgates," Horn said.
Skylar Richardson made it 2-0 about three minutes later with an unassisted blast from about 18 yards out. The prettiest goal of the foursome was the third when Sporleder fed Carron for the score. The rush ended at the 10-minute mark when Dalton Green lined home a shot the Battle keeper never moved to stop.
Horn was looking for that effort to carry over into the second half. It didn't.
"We didn't do anything, we missed some sitters and we weren't sharp," he said. "This is the time of the year when you have to start doing something and when you're missing the ball with the inside of your foot from just a few yards out, we can't get it to the end line, we struggle with a corner kick."
The Jays got their final goal with about 25 minutes remaining by Brayden Carron.
Zach Brooks played the first 55 minutes in goal for the Jays before Tyler Hager finished the game. The Spartans had two shots in the game to 17 for the Jays.
Jefferson City (5-4-3) is back in action Thursday in its first game in the Gateway City Soccer Classic. The Jays will open against Granite City, Ill., in a group to be played in Granite City, Ill. Jefferson City will also play Friday and Saturday in the event.
"That will give us a nice look at where we're at," Horn said.
The Jays won Tuesday's JV game 9-0 to improve to 5-1 on the season.
Chad Hamler, Max Allen and Noah Gerander had two goals each for the Jays. Charlie Kusick, Felix Vasquez and Brendan Drury had one each. Assists were credited to Tucker Jett, Conner Clime and Drury.
Nick Ryan and Kord Pearson shared time in goal in the shutout, the fifth of the season for the team.