The Laredo Heat’s main weakness through the first two National Premier Soccer League games was not scoring enough goals according to head coach Aidan Davison. Yet that wasn’t the case Friday as the Heat defeated the Katy 1895 FC 8-0 in the first road match of the season.

The eight-goal output set a new franchise record for most goals in game and largest margin of victory. The Heat’s performance comes a loss to the Denton Diablos 2-1 last Friday, which marked just the second time during Laredo’s NPSL tenure that the club has suffered defeat. The organization’s only other NPSL loss came 2-1 in the South Region semifinal last year to the Little Rock Rangers as it finished three games shy of the national championship.

As a coach, Davison wants his team to have high energy and set the tempo. He wants to set the standard from the start. Davison knows his team can’t do that for full 90 minutes, but he expects Laredo to do so early in the game during the first 15 minutes, which is exactly what it did against Katy.

The Heat (2-1-0) got on the board in the fifth minute as Cameron DeJong scored off a header. The goal marked the first time this season that Laredo was able to score in the first 15 minutes. The Red & Black kept on the attack as Jose Luis Hincapie buried a shot in the 11th minute.

Scoring would subside for the next 20 minutes until Ivan Sakou tallied the Heat’s third goal of the game in the 33rd minute. Then right before halftime, Laredo was awarded a penalty kick which Gabriel Rodriguez converted in the 45th minute to give the team a 4-0 lead heading into the break.

Instead of sitting back and wait out the game, the Heat remained on the attack in the second half. Sakou got his second goal of the night in the 53rd minute to give Laredo a 5-0 lead. With the goal, Sakou is now the team’s leading scorer on the season.

Later in the 68th minute, Daniel Zapata got his first goal of the season. After Zapata’s goal, the Heat’s bench players started to get in on the action. Newcomer Denron Frederick scored the team’s seventh goal of the night in the 86th minute while Alexis Castillo buried the final goal in the 90th minute.

With the loss, Katy is now 0-3-0 and has conceded 14 goals.

Laredo will remain on the road as it closes out its two match road trip at 6 p.m. Sunday against Tyler FC, which the Heat defeated 2-1 in the NPSL opener.

gkroeger@lmtonline.com

Twitter: @gkroegs