Michael Fisher (8) fights for control of the ball with a couple of Leander Rouse players. Collectively, the Lampasas varsity boys’ soccer team knew the nondistrict portion of its season was meaningless in its postseason pursuit.

But after being outscored 37-1 during the first two weeks of play -- comprised primarily of tournaments with tougher Class 5A competition -- the Badgers were desperate to feel the thrill of victory.

Thanks to a 4-0 shutout of Leander Rouse in the districtopener Tuesday evening, the Badgers’ spirits got a much-needed lift.

“It’s a district game, and that’s the best time to start winning,” Lampasas head coach Greg Porter said. “I’ve told them all along that [the district schedule] is when the season begins. Everything else is really a preseason game.”

With the “preseason” out of the way, it took the Badgers a little more than three minutes to match their nondistrict goal total, as midfielder Brock English redirected forward Michael Fisher’s pass to Marc Campisi who found the back of the net.

PHOTOS BY RICHARD AKRIDGE Senior forward Marc Campisi delivers a header during the Badgers’ win over Leander Rouse Tuesday evening. The senior forward’s goal proved to be the only score of the half for either team, and the Badgers took a 1-0 lead into halftime.

The drought was broken with 32:10 remaining in the match when Fisher scored off an assist from Emmanuel Lopez to put Lampasas up 2-0.

“That was the shot in the arm we needed,” Porter said. “The kids could relax, and we could play [freely] because we had a cushion.

“They were playing the first half [under] stress because they hadn’t won a game all year.”

Thirteen minutes later, Lampasas senior Francisco Cadengo used his upper body to touch the ball past the goalkeeper as it ricocheted off Campisi during Alonso Lopez’s free kick attempt.

The Badgers’ final goal came off a corner kick with a little over 10 minutes left in the match. After Fisher put the ball in play, Emmanuel Lopez performed a header to get the ball past the goalkeeper.

“We scored on two set plays tonight, and that is some great improvement,” Porter said. “It’s good to see your team scoring on one instead of getting scored on by one.”

While the offense garnered attention, the Badgers’ defense was sound in protecting its half of the pitch.

“I thought [the defense] played well, and I thought they learned their lessons from playing 5A teams,” the coach said. “I want to keep them back. I know they want to go up and keep the ball up there, but as soon as it comes back and we’re up there, we are in trouble.

“I thought they did a better job at that, and they had fewer errors.”

After witnessing his players committing too many turnovers along the sidelines coming out of their own end, the coach tweaked his strategy to allow an extra midfielder to roam. The additional support cut down on team turnovers, which helped the Badgers maintain possession and initiate scoring attacks.

“I was also pleased with [junior] Chris Sanders,” Porter said. “He’s a big stopper, and he helped to keep the ball on the Leander Rouse half. He played physical, the way it needs to be played.”

The Badgers return to the pitch tonight in Killeen at 7:45 p.m. The Kangaroos tend to own the possession battle, lulling their opposition to sleep with crisp, frequent passes before attacking.

“They just try to possess the ball somewhere in your half, and they just kind of move up slowly and then finally generate a shot,” the Lampasas coach said. “[I’m expecting] a low-scoring game, but I hope we score a lot.”

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The Lady Badgers opened their district schedule by losing 1-0 at Leander Rouse.

After playing to a 1-1 tie with Fredericksburg in its final nondistrict competition last Friday, Lampasas came out flat against the Lady Raiders Tuesday evening and paid for it.

“We were in a funk and were never able to shake it off,” Lampasas head coach Mark Guszak said. “We had opportunities for goals, good ones, but missing them caused us to press more and we got too uptight.”

The Lady Badgers look to bounce back from their slow start tonight as they host their first district game of the season against Killeen at 7:45 p.m.