The Hornets also, admittedly, have no idea what that’s supposed to feel like. They aren’t used to those lofty expectations.

“We have a lot of seniors. They have a lot of confidence,” Leavitt coach Isaiah Davis said. “They think they’re going to be really good, but they aren’t really sure until it happens. We look good. Other coaches have said we’re good. But are we really good?”

Sure looked that way Friday in a 6-1 victory over neighbor and conference newcomer Spruce Mountain, one that the Hornets broke open with two goals in a 55-second span late in the first half.

Senior striker Tyler Roux tallied the first goal after a turnover deep in the Phoenix defensive zone with 3:08 left until intermission. Roux finished with a hat trick.

“I think once we get one and finally break the ice, momentum kicks in and we start playing better as a team,” Roux said. “That’s what turned it, the first goal.”

Midfielder Madison Noel, another senior who has been a regular contributor with Roux and goalie Ben Fullerton since ninth grade, supplied the second in the continuing action after a corner kick.

Fullerton made 11 saves for Leavitt.

“I’ve been varsity since freshman year, and this is the first year we’ve started off a season with a win, and with a good amount of goals. It gives us a lot of confidence,” the goalie said. “It’s been a tough past three years. Few wins, bad morale on our team, things just don’t go our way. But this is a really good sign.”

Roux scored again less than two minutes into the second half to send the Hornets on their way.

The flurry of goals ended a slump, of sorts.

“We had a bunch of a preseason games that we dominated. We played Morse and outshot them 13-1, and it was a 1-1 game,” Davis said. “We were hitting posts, hitting crossbars. It’s like there’s been a force field around the goal. I kept telling them, if we can just put one in, and I think the key was scoring the second one.”

Spruce Mountain handled Roux brilliantly for most of the first half, forcing more of those wide-lefts and wide-rights.

Nick Guild, who finished with 20 saves, also tipped a couple over the crossbar and dove to deny others, while Noah Parker and Eli Krout did yeoman work clearing the box.

“We played 35 absolutely unbelievable minutes, did exactly what we wanted to do. We played our game,” Spruce Mountain coach Larry Thornton said. “The last five minutes, wham, we went downhill. We got a little bit of a lift when we got a goal, but we weren’t able to recover.”

Tristen Begin cashed in Nate Goodine’s corner kick and cut it to 3-1.

Roux set up a goal by Evan Clark before rifling home his third of the afternoon.

Michael Barry followed his own shot and cleaned up to supply the exclamation point after Guild couldn’t quite get his mitts on the slow roller.

“It’s awesome. Winning 6-1 is just a plus,” Roux said. “Last year we played one of the harder teams to start the season, played a good game but didn’t win. This year all of us being seniors, all that experience playing together, it’s finally all coming together I think.”

Davis expects the same growth from Leavitt’s opponent. The Phoenix are making the jump from the predominantly-Class C Mountain Valley Conference.

“We don’t have a lot of easy wins. That’s not a feeling we really have, other than maybe a summer game or a preseason game,” Davis said. “Spruce came at us hard. We saw them at Lewiston in the round robin and they were pretty disorganized. We won kind of easily. They looked like a completely different team. They were really aggressive at winning balls in the midfield.”

“The kids wanted to come out and prove themselves right away,” Thornton said. “Overall it wasn’t a bad start, especially those first 35 minutes. We have some things to tighten up.

koakes@sunjournal.com