The McClain boys soccer team traveled to Lynchburg-Clay High School on Wednesday night to take on the Mustangs in a cross-county showdown between two leagues.
It was a tough, fast-paced and physical game throughout and saw the Tigers come out on top with a final score of 3-2.
Vinicius Marcelino started things off early for the Tigers with a goal at the 37:08 mark to put his team up 1-0.
Lynchburg’s Noah Scott came back ten minutes later (28:54) with a goal of his own to knot the score at one goal a piece.
Things were quiet until Cody Hardesty scored another goal for the Tigers with six minutes to go in the first period, putting his team up 2-1 going into the half.
After the half, McClain’s Tyler Jackson scored for his team, once again early, to put them up by two goals with a score of 3-1 with 37:09 to go in the second period.
Kyle Luneke scored for the Mustangs with 14:01 to pull the Mustangs back to within one goal.
Neither team from that moment on scored again.
Lynchburg made an impressive push in the final two minutes in the game which actually resulted in a hard kick right at the corner of the goal but keeper Cameron Yates made a diving stop with just seconds to go and kicked the ball up the field as time expired giving the Tigers a hard fought victory on the road.
“That last-second save saved us from having a tie in this game,” said Tiger’s coach Jon Chamblin after the win. “It’s always hard to come down here and play. Lynchburg always has a great team. They’re fast and now how to pass well and it’s always a battle when we play. We’ve got a young team but the guys responded well and played their butts off tonight so I’m really proud of them.
“We moved the ball really well tonight. Our defense played lights out back there in the back. Just an overall team effort tonight.”
The Tigers are now 6-4-1 on the season and will travelto Jackson on Thursday, October 1.
Reach Robert Stegbauer at 937-393-3456 ext. 1679 or on Twitter @RStegbauer.
