Bloom storms by Rich South

Bloom moved one step closer toward winning the Southland Conference for the second straight season, defeating Rich South 6-1 on Wednesday in Chicago Heights.

The Blazing Trojans stand alone atop the conference with a 5-0 record. They're 6-8-1 overall.

"We still have four more games left in conference, but we are still the only undefeated team, but you can't count your chickens before they hatch," Bloom coach Kelly Gutierrez said.

Bloom came out firing, scoring twice before the game finished its fifth minute. Jorge Garcia hit Gustavo Zambrano with a backdoor pass, with Zambrano booting the ball into the back of the net for a 1-0 lead less than four minutes in. Emilio Gallardo found the back of the net just over a minute later after driving from 20 yards out to make it 2-0.

"It's good to get that first ball through and it got us pumped up enough to get more balls in the net," Zambrano said. "We want to win all conference games."

Midway through the first half, Bloom struck again. Garcia got control of the ball from 50 yards out, beat a couple of Rich South defenders and blasted the ball off the left post and into the net. Jonathan Gonzalez scored on a rebound of a shot by Cesar Mendoza to make it 4-0 at halftime.

"I took three players and just took a shot and it went in behind the goalie," Garcia said. "We just have to keep going and keep winning."

Rich South (6-11, 4-2) was outshot 25-1 in the match and the one shot was a penalty kick, which Jaime Flores scored on to make it 4-1 seven minutes into the second half. Bloom answered right back, scoring 2 1/2 minutes later thanks to some fancy footwork by Garcia. Gonzalez added another goal in the closing minute of the game to close the scoring.

"We played a good opponent in Crete-Monee and beat them at their house and our house and then came back today and played another good game," Zambrano said. "Hopefully, we stay undefeated and are conference champs."

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