Putting a stranglehold on the second 1A district seed out of the Cascade Conference, the South Whidbey High School soccer team swamped visiting Cedar Park Christian-Bothell 9-1 on a waterlogged field Monday, April 16.

Coupled with the Falcons’ 6-1 win over CPC (3-5, 5-6) earlier this season, South Whidbey (4-4-1, 5-4-2) holds the No. 2 seed from the conference into the district tournament.

The Falcons went scoreless last Friday, so coach Emerson Robbins changed formations for the match with the Eagles.

The switch in strategy worked, leading to 37 shots compared to 15 the first time the two teams met.

Michael Lux scored the Falcons’ first goal off an assist from Nevin Daniels.

Graham Colar followed with his first of three goals, “often dribbling through defenders as if they were department store mannequins,” according to Robbins.

Silas Batiste scored two goals while playing defensive mid.

Defender Lake Smith scored from long range, hitting a goal on a free kick from midfield.

Daniels added a goal, and Aidan Donnelly finished the scoring off an assist from Julian Inches, who moved from keeper to left mid in the second half as Taylor Daniels took over in goal.

With defensive midfielder Andrew Curtis missing the match, freshman Aidan O’Brian joined Batiste in the middle, and the pair “controlled the offensive attack with their intelligent and poised passing and distribution,” Robbins said.

“I felt our passing last night was as good as I’ve seen from our team,” Robbins said. “I was extremely pleased overall with our team’s play. Kudos once again for our defense.”

The defense was led by Smith, who played “another outstanding game though still sick as a dog,” Ari Rohan, Thomas Simms and Joey Lane.

The Eagles had only two shots on goal.

The Falcons travel to Granite Falls (0-8, 1-11) at 6 p.m. Wednesday, April 18.