A well-taken hat-trick from Finn Upsher and a superb individual goal from Jake Blackmore helped Ottery Under-13s to a hugely impressive 4-0 home victory over Okehampton.
Playing the team that pipped them to the title last season, the Otters began on the front foot with confidence high after their midweek cup semi-final success.
They were denied a second-minute lead when the frame of the goal kept out a shot from striker Finn Upsher after a neat right wing raid involving right back Tom Bennett and midfielder Jake Blackmore.
As the end-to-end action continued, the game switched to the opposite end and Ottery had a fortunate escape before Freddie Clarke found George Durham in a good position only for the Ottery winger to shoot just wide.
The deadlock was broken on 15 minutes when prolific striker Upsher broke down the right before cutting into the area and drilling the ball home.
A minute later it was 2-0 with Upsher seizing on a goalkeeper error to net his second.
The Ottery dominance continued; Seb Copp linked well with left back Sam Gleeson, who saw his shot tipped round the post before Jack Carpenter and Copp combined prior to Durham firing just over.
It was not all one-way though, but, with Will Reid proving a more than able replacement for the unavailable Rowan Hewitt in defence and some smart handling from the consistent Jack Hembrow in the Otters goal, half-time arrived with the 2-0 lead intact. After the break, assistant manager Mark Gleeson sent on Zak Wilkinson up front and, five minutes later, the impressive Blackmore scored the goal of the game, surging into the penalty box before looking up and rifling the ball beyond the glovesman.
Moments later Blackmore repeated the process, but this time the goalkeeper saved well. Upsher then completed his latest hat-trick when he took a peach of a pass from Blackmore before lifting the ball over the advancing glovesman to net his 26th goal of the season.
Assistant manager Mark Gleeson said at the final whistle: “There was always a danger of the boys coming into the game over-confident, but, after a hesitant start, we found our rhythm and were able to put some good passages of play together.
“Finn [Upsher] took his hat-trick well, and our third was a great individual goal from Jake Blackmore. Seb Copp was also dominant in midfield.”
On Saturday (April 6), Ottery travel to Crediton.
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