On Thursday, the matchup wasn’t nearly as close.

Sal Tabone made sure of it.

The Hillbillies senior striker scored five goals and assisted on another as Fredonia beat the Red Raiders 6-0 at Fredonia High School.

“We just concentrated on the soccer. We didn’t come in thinking we were just going to walk all over them,” Fredonia head coach Jim Rush. “They are a better side and they have given us a hard time. We responded.”

Fredonia’s Sal Tabone settles a ball with his shoulder in front of Jamestown’s Adam Powell (15) during Thursday’s CCAA West Division game at Fredonia High School. P-J photo by Matt Spielman

The game was supposed to be played Monday at SUNY Fredonia, but weather postponed it. Instead of playing the Hillbillies before a matchup with first-place Allegany-Limestone, Jamestown had to play a day after a 12-0 defeat.

“We played last night against Allegany-Limestone and got crushed,” Jamestown head coach Bonnie Schnars said. “They are a little defeated right now.”

Tabone scored all of his team’s goals in a 4-0 first half.

In the 17th minute, after Andrew Cowan made a save on Tyler Maloney’s free kick from about 28 yards out, the Fredonia (8-3-1, 5-2-0) goalkeeper advanced the ball with a punt before Sam Murphy touched the ball to Tabone, who scored high over Red Raiders (3-8-0, 2-5-0) goalkeeper Evan Sharpe for a 1-0 lead.

Tabone made things happen again in the 25th minute, working the ball into the 18-yard box next to the Jamestown goal before feeding eighth-grader Matthew Cowan for his second goal of the season.

“You don’t bring up eighth-graders if you don’t think they can do the job,” Rush said. ” … I put him in big situations because I know he can do it.”

In the 30th minute, the Hillbillies once again took advantage of a long ball when Calder Annear sent a pass upfield to Tabone, who beat Sharpe inside the near post for a 3-0 lead.

“We felt we could use our speed to get by them. The passes were very good,” Rush said. “That’s stuff that we work on in practice so it’s good to see practice being put into play.”

Tabone capped the first-half scoring in the 33rd minute as the Red Raiders misplayed another long ball and he beat Sharpe low to the keeper’s right.

“A lot of our breakdowns came in the middle of the field,” Schnars said. ” … We haven’t had a lot of practice time. We can’t even work on stuff. I think working on it and saying it are two different things.”

Jamestown’s best chances of the first half came in the first minute when Noah Burch was stopped in tight by Andrew Cowan and the rebound eventually made its way to the top of the 18-yard box before Cowan stopped a drive to the center of the goal.

“Andrew was our keeper on the modified for two years. … He’s really stepped up this year. We’ve had five or six clean sheets and he’s really performed well,” Rush said. ” … He’s able to make that save early. If it’s 1-0 them you give them a little bit of life.”

After halftime, Murphy worked a pass through to Tabone who beat replacement keeper Andres Pacheco with his fourth goal of the game before Jack Pietro earned his first point of the season with an assist on Tabone’s sixth of the game.

“He’s taken another step this year. He’s done really, really well using his body position,” Rush said of Tabone. ” … He’s become a playmaker and he’s involved his other teammates. That’s been really good for him and the team as a whole. … That’s added another layer to what we potentially can do.”

The Red Raiders failed to generate much quality offense in the second half as Pacheco, a starting midfielder, moved to goalkeeper and Tyler Maloney, another starting midfielder, moved back to defense.

“We’ve been relying on him a great deal for defense because he’s solid back there for us. When we move him back, we lose him in the middle of the field,” Schnars said of Maloney. “He’s a playmaker. He’s kind of lost his touch, too, because we’ve been utilizing him so much in the back that he’s not as effective now in the midfield. That’s kind of taken its toll.”

Fredonia’s back line of Annear, Morgan Cerrie, Lucas Hoffman and Pietro also did a good job of minimizing Jamestown’s pushes forward.

“We’re solid in the back. They do a good job. They know how to contain. They don’t let many get behind them,” Rush said. “Communication is key. They’ve really done a good job over the past couple of games.”

Andrew Cowan was called on again late to make a trio of saves to preserve the clean sheet as the Hillbillies rotated reserves in on defense.

Fredonia will likely face a bigger test Monday when it takes on rival Southwestern at Charles A. Lawson Field in West Ellicott.

“We are heading into a tough portion of our schedule. We have Southwestern on Monday and Allegany-Limestone. Those are two programs that we want to compete with,” Rush said. “We took care of business this week and now we go into next week.”

NOTES: Sharpe made five saves in the first half and Pacheco made 12 in the second half for Jamestown, which hosts nonleague Gowanda/Pine Valley on Saturday morning before returning to league play Monday at Olean.