With four goals in the opening nine minutes of the second half, the twelfth-ranked Bengals blew the doors off sixth-ranked Middle Creek on Friday night, using five consecutive goals to win 6-3.

“I told them at halftime our offense needed to step up,” Fuquay coach James Mountford said.“The whole team responded and came out and beat a very good Middle Creek team that’s been successful this season.”

Fuquay got on the board first, thanks the individual effort of senior Hector Valentin. Valentin was in the open field with only a defender to challenge him for a 50-50 ball dumped in from his teammate Aaron Schiappa.

Now one-on-one with the Mustangs’ goalkeeper, Valentin easily scored with 24:08 to give the Bengals the early 1-0 lead.

Middle Creek’s Sam Keel scored with 15:29 left after he stole the ball away from a Fuquay defender in the box. Fuquay goalkeeper Adam Sedivy had thrown the ball to the defender, perhaps not realizing how close the senior was standing to the intended target.

Keel then took a few steps in and blasted a shot straight over a leaping Sedivy.

Michael May scored 58 seconds later for the Mustangs after a cross from Keel was flicked out by a Fuquay defender, who had positioned himself in front the goalkeeper. The ball wasn’t headed out as far as the Bengals would’ve liked, however, as it went straight to May just a few standing just two feet away.

The junior wasted no time burying it into the net, giving the home team its second goal coming on an error by the Fuquay backline. In the second, it was Middle Creek’s backline that committed costly gaffes — and they wasted little time in committing them.

“It’s been a tough week,” Mustangs coach Eddie Wasdell said, referring also to an earlier loss to Apex and 5-5 tie with Holly Springs. “I guess we can only go up from here.”

Just 22 seconds into second-half play, Middle Creek was called for a handball in the box, which set up a penalty kick from Deshey Thomas. He buried the tying shot.

Fourteen seconds after Thomas’ goal, Valentin scored on his second breakaway of the night to put the Bengals up 3-2 with 38:24 left in the second.

Valentin netted the hat trick as he scored his third goal of the night via penalty kick after a take down in the box with 8:09 left.

“Without my teammates, I couldn’t do anything … the guys put everything on the field,” Valentin, who played for Middle Creek’s junior varsity his freshman year before being reassigned, said. “Nobody’s weak in this conference, and I hope we can get a conference championship. This is a great team. This is for everybody – everybody put everything on the field, my coach and the players.”

At the 35:20 mark, Schiappa sent in a dribbler from the 20 yards away on the right side of the box into the far left corner to put his team up 5-2. Then at 31:59, Andrew Sotak converted his one-on-one chance with the goalkeeper, leaving a Middle Creek crowd stunned.

Middle Creek earned a penalty kick of their own in the waning minutes of the game, and Keel converted to give the game’s final goal.

“You couldn’t ask for a better half. I think it’s the best soccer we’ve played in a long time, probably in a few years to be honest,” Mountford said.

There was no football game this week for Middle Creek, but a number of Mustangs fans decided to pack the stadium for soccer rather than stay home on Friday night.

It was a surprising result in a conference where the unexpected has become expected. The Tri-Nine Conference’s top five teams have all spent time ranked this year, and all five are still in contention to win the conference.

“Every time you step on the field against any team, anything can happen,” Mountford said. “I had no idea the offensive would be so explosive tonight, but it’s the Tri-Nine. Every night is a challenge.”