BOUNTIFUL — East High has taken the idea of being road warriors to ridiculous levels.

The Leopards started a road swing earlier this week that has them facing five straight region opponents away from home. Included right in the middle of it all are consecutive road games against Bountiful, Woods Cross and Highland.

"I'm the schedule-setter," East coach Rudy Schenk said. "I don't know what I was thinking."

Being at home or on the road has made little difference for the Leopards. East kept its unbeaten start going on Thursday afternoon, rallying behind a pair of goals from Saralyn Drury to edge the Braves 2-1 at Millcreek Junior High.

The victory boosted East to a 7-0 record overall and moves the Leopards to 3-0 in Region 6 play. Putting together such a hot start is quite an accomplishment for a team that graduated 12 seniors from last fall and had to essentially break in a brand new defense.

"It shows how strong we are," Drury said. "But we've still got a long way to go. Hopefully, by state, we'll just be that much better. This is a really good victory for us. It just sends a message to other teams."

In sending a message, Drury served as the messenger.

Bountiful seized a quick 1-0 lead in the 10th minute after a free kick for the Braves was accidently deflected into the goal by a Leopards player in a scramble to try and clear the ball out of the penalty area.

Drury righted the ship for East when she found the equalizer in the 26th minute. The junior forward earned a straightaway look at the net from about the middle of the area and put the ball perfectly on frame and past Bountiful keeper Carly Longhurst to make it 1-1.

Her second goal came in the waning minutes just as it appeared the Braves might be able to force the game into overtime.

Drury broke free in the 77th minute to create a one-on-one opportunity with Longhurst. As the Braves sophomore came off the line and dove for the ball, Drury sidestepped her and found herself with an empty net. From there, it was a simple matter of curling the ball inside the right post to make it 2-1.

Ironically, Bountiful came within inches of slotting in a goal on a similar play in the 68th minute. Hannah Marble latched onto a lead ball from a counterattack and beat Leopards keeper Michelle Price on a challenge. With an empty net before her, Marble shot the ball a tad too hard and it bounced off the front of the crossbar.

Schenk expected a game that would go right down to the final whistle, and his team got exactly that.

"After four years, nothing has changed," Schenk said. "It's still a war with Bountiful. There's hardly ever been blowouts. It's always been close games. It's always hard fought — at least since I've been around."

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Schenk felt like his team hung tough even after some early mistakes and eventually found a way to control the tempo to their liking. Drury said the Leopards just focused on staying calm and maintaining their composure after the early own goal and it paid off.

"They scored pretty early, but we had a whole game to finish and be relaxed," Drury said. "If we were the hardest working team on the field, then we'd come out ahead."

With the loss, Bountiful is now 0-2 in Region 6 and 4-2 overall after being considered an early favorite for the region title.

e-mail: jcoon@desnews.com

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