Alec Saylor continues to score goals and the Dowagiac soccer team continues to win matches.

Saylor scored a pair of goals against Fennville in the final match of the Chieftain Invitational Saturday.

Dowagiac defeated Cassopolis 2-0 in the opening match, while the Rangers defeated Fennville in a penalty kick shootout in the second match of the day.

The Chieftains (4-0) had already locked up the championship as they had defeated Cassopolis in head-to-head competition, but that did not keep Dowagiac from playing its best match of the season against the Blackhawks.

“It is coming together,” Dowagiac coach Mike Williams said. “Some people are starting to adjust to game speed. That is what we wanted before we head into conference play.”

After a scoreless tie in the opening half against the Rangers, Cristian Wilson scored in the 46th minute to give the Chieftains a 1-0 advantage.

Johnny Ruiz would score in the 58th minute to give the Chieftains some cushion with two minutes left in the match.

Against Fennville, Saylor scored his eighth and ninth goals of the season in the 16th and 51st minutes. AJ Lara assisted on the first goal, while Ruiz picked up the assist on the second half goal.

“He (Saylor) has a nose for the goal,” Williams said. “I had him at outside mid last year because we needed him there. Now that some of the younger players can step up and fill that spot we can put more pressure up top. He is hungry. He wants to score every time.”

Cassopolis (4-3) trailed Fennville 2-1 midway through the second half when Kiambu Gary scored his second goal in the 48th minute to tie the match at 2-2.

It stayed that way through the remainder of regulation forcing a shootout.

In the first round of the shootout, the Rangers got goals from Lane Francis, Brett Williams and TJ Gless.

Fennville’s goals came from Steven Mendoza, Christian Mendoza and Luke Garpow.

In the sudden-death shootout, both teams missed on their first two kicks, one of which was knocked away by Cassopolis keeper Jason Sopaseuth.

Joshua Canterbury then beat the Blackhawk goalkeeper with that turned out to be the winning shot after Sopaseuth stopped Fennville’s final shot on goal.

“To be honest, as we prepared to play in this tournament I considered practicing it (a shootout), but decided not to,” said Cassopolis coach Austin Francis. “I kind of wished we would have. A lot of our guys who have played before have been in these situations. I try to stress it is just a pass to the corner. I was impressed with our keeper. He did well back there.”

Dowagiac returns to the pitch Thursday when it hosts Eau Claire in a match that was added late last week. The Chieftains will play the Beavers at 5 p.m. prior to the Dowagiac-Three Rivers football game.