With half of the South Puget Sound League 3A soccer season under their belts, the White River Hornets are maintaining their hold on first place.

Recent action did little to decide things, as the Hornets settled for a scoreless tie during their crucial April 21 showdown with second-place Peninsula High and followed that with an easy, nonleague victory Friday over the Yelm Tornadoes.

Heading into this week, White River sat at 3-0-1 in SPSL 3A play and 9-0-1 overall. Franklin Pierce had moved into second place at 3-2-0, followed by Peninsula at 2-0-2 and Bonney Lake at 2-1-2.

With only eight games on the league docket, each one is important. The Hornets battled Bonney Lake Tuesday evening and will travel to Auburn Mountainview Friday.

The Hornets maintained the upper hand during their April 21 tussle with Peninsula, but were unable to capitalize on opportunities. “We just couldn’t find the net,” assistant coach Travis Tremblay said.

That certainly wasn’t the case Friday when the Hornets hosted Yelm and won 6-1.

White River took a 2-0 halftime lead thanks to goals by Ricky Mau and Evan Robertson, then saw Yelm cut the margin to 2-1 on a Dan Gonzales goal early in the second half. That prompted a scoring blizzard by the Hornets as Jarrod Adams, Jeremy Young and Nathan Jung scored to put the game out of reach. Young added a second goal to bring the 6-1 final.

Reach Kevin Hanson at khanson@courierherald.com or 360-802-8205.