The Warren Central boys’ soccer team raced past Bowling Green 3-0 on Thursday at Warren Central High School.

Warren Central (8-1-2 overall, 2-1 District 14) used its speed to create scoring chances and its defense was able to keep the Purples off the board – setting up the Dragons for a showdown against South Warren on Tuesday.

“As competitive as our district has been, every game matters,” Warren Central coach AJ Ray said. “I said that from the beginning, so getting this win puts us in place to still compete for that one seed.”

Bowling Green (5-2, 1-2) controlled the pace for most of the first half, keeping possession on its side of the field.

Warren Central finally flipped the field late in the first half.

Edgar Estrada got free for a possible breakaway goal, but BG’s Jackson Rodgers made a diving save by knocking the ball out of play. Less than a minute later, the Dragons broke through when Daniel Nkurunziza scored in a scramble in the box after a corner kick by Kenasi Mpenda.

“We probably used everything that we have as a strength to our advantage,” Ray said. “The boys had a slow start, but today used a lot of the strengths to help themselves get a win today, so I am happy for them.”

Bowling Green had a chance to score late in the half, but Yeredi Yeredi’s shot was cleared by a defender after getting past the keeper.

The Purples had a chance to tie in the opening minutes of the second when a yellow card to Warren Central keeper Javier Duncan led to a penalty kick by Yeredi. The shot hit the top of the crossbar, allowing the Dragons to maintain the lead.

Warren Central added to the lead in the 51st minute when Estrada took a pass from Nkurunziza and fired a shot that deflected off the keeper and into the back of the net.

Warren Central added one more goal in the 62nd minute on a penalty kick by Mpenda.

“We knew we had to come out here strong,” Estrada said. “That’s what we did and we won.”

Warren Central finished with nine shots, eight on goal. Almian Sakanovic had four saves as the Dragons recorded a fourth straight shutout.

“We really dug in defensively,” Ray said. “We want to make that our mark. If we can prevent shots and prevent goals, then ultimately that is going to help us win games. We got a couple of bounces that went our way in the second half where they were unable to finish that could have maybe changed the outcome. I think just being a pest on defense was something we were able to do and be successful at.”

Bowling Green finished with 14 shots, four on goal.

“We were completely unrecognizable from any team I have walked onto a field with this year, just about the entire game,” BG coach Craig Widener said. “I’m the coach. It’s my fault. It’s my job to get them prepared and obviously tonight we weren’t prepared.

“A lot of credit is going to go to Central. They pressed us into some errors we don’t normally make, but we made some just dumb decisions too many times tonight. When you are playing a good team, you can’t make dumb decisions. It was the same thing against South Warren. Good teams are going to punish bad mistakes.”

Warren Central will host South Warren at 7 p.m. Tuesday, looking to avenge a 2-1 loss to the Spartans on Aug. 16. Bowling Green will host West Jessamine at 1 p.m. Sunday.