FENTON — Alton coach Nick Funk knew his Redbirds best be prepared for a dogfight in Tuesday’s CYC Tournament-Sullivan Division opener against Troy (Missouri) Buchanan. While the 5-1 Alton win at World Wide Technologies Soccer Park might indicate Funk’s charges were over-prepared, such wasn’t the case, he said.

“We really played well tonight off the first whistle,” Funk said. “Troy was the team we faced in the overtime last year in the semis of the CYC Tournament, so we knew we had to be ready for them.”

Meanwhile, in a late CYC game at Soccer Park, Marquette Catholic High ran its CYC Tourney mark to 2-0 with a 2-0 victory over Fox High.

Alton 5, Troy 1 – The Redbirds struck twice within the first 10 minutes and set Troy on its heels. And Alton kept up the pressure.

“We kept our foot on the pedal,” Funk said. “We had to change up our formation because if unforeseen circumstances this week and the kids were forced to step into unfamiliar roles and they really did well. “

The Redbirds (8-4 overall) will play at Bayless at 4:15 p.m. Wednesday in their second game of the tournament. They will finish pool play Thursday at 7:45 p.m. against Northwest Cedar Hill at Soccer Park.

“We were able to maximize our allowed goal differential which is nice,” Funk said. “Kids love the CYC Tourney and I also believe it’s good for us to check our mid season competitiveness in a tournament style format. Especially a tournament with such rich history.”

This is the 63rd annual CYC Tourney.

Jake Lombardi scored in the sixth minute from a Parker Rockholm assist and Blake Dunse added a goal four minutes later off an assist from Brayden Decker to open a 2-0 Alton lead.

Colin Lombardi converted a penalty kick in the 19th minute to make it 3-0 at halftime.

In the second half, Michael Stark scored in the 44th minute from an assist by Rockholm to make it 4-0 before Troy scored in the 55th minute to make it 4-1. Alton’s Jaden Singleton finished the scoring from a Dunse assist in the 62nd minute.