By Cannon Crompton, and Mary Lynn Hulsey
Cherokee Scout
Cherokee County’s high school soccer teams were busy playing each other last week.
To kick off the week of in-county matchups, the Andrews varsity soccer team (2-6-1) hosted Tri-County Early College (2-9-1) for a close game, with a valiant effort given by both teams. The Wildcats defeated the Jaguars 2-0 with goals from Ty Clark and Erick Zapet.
The first half was fast-paced with slow progress. With goal attempts from both teams, there was no apparent lead in the game. On both sides, the ball tended to stop at the last line of defenders and rarely reached the goalkeepers, leaving the score at 0-0 at the end of the half.
During the second half, tension between the teams raised as fouls became more recognizable. Efforts toward the goal grew closer to the goalkeeper, which provoked a big save by Kegan Ellis with an attempt by Andrew White toward the end of the last half. With the score still at 0-0, the teams went into overtime.
Nerves from both teams were high. With five minutes left in overtime, a goal by Ty Clark of Andrews at the 20 yard line hit the top railing just before Julian Arvizu caught it inside of the goal, giving Andrews their first goal of the night.
Nearing the end of overtime, a goal kick from Connor Arrowood hit a Tri-County player in the back, sending the ball backward and toward the goal. Arvizu caught it and threw it back to Arrowood, who immediately threw the ball back to Arvizu before he proceeded to attempt a goal kick.
The ball was in play, therefore declaring the touch a handball by Arrowood. The handball resulted in a penalty kick by Zapet, who scored the winning goal for Andrews.
Tri-County then headed to take on Murphy the next day, where the Bulldogs were victorious Thursday.
The Dogs (7-8-1) got the scoring going in the first half. Just under 10 minutes into the match, Nathan Johnson headed the ball after a cross into the middle to take a 1-0 lead. Less than five minutes later, Jerry Bui scored his first of the match after a perfectly placed free kick.
Four minutes later, Bui scored again after a hard shot went through Tri-County goalkeeper Julian Arvizu’s outstretched hands.
The Bulldogs took a 3-0 lead to halftime, then they tacked on three more in the second half.
Less than a minute into the second half, Mason Gaither made a tackle on Bui, then was given a red card from the referee. As a result, Tri-County had to play the remainder of the match with 10 players on the field instead of 11.
A few minutes later, the second card of the half was given, as a Murphy player got a yellow card following a tackle. With just under 10 minutes into the half, Tyler Payne made a penalty kick to give the Dogs a 4-0 lead.
About five minutes later, Landen Spies of Tri-County was given a yellow card.
Then nine minutes later, Murphy took a 5-0 lead after an own goal by Tri-County. Murphy took a shot and the ball ricocheted off a Tri-County defender in front of the goal.
With nine minutes left in the half, Jaden Rice got a rebound and buried it to give the Dogs a 6-0 lead.
Less than two minutes later, Bui went to kick the ball out of the air, but he missed the ball and kicked a Tri-County defender. The high kick resulted in a yellow card, the fourth one given in the second half.
Roundup of matches
- Andrews lost to Highlands 3-2 on Oct. 7.
- Murphy defeated Swain County 2-1 on Oct. 7.
- Tri-County defeated Cherokee 4-0 on Oct. 7.
- Murphy defeated Cherokee 7-0 on Oct. 9.
- Andrews lost to Hayesville 2-1 on Thursday.
This week, Cherokee (0-8) will host Andrews, Highlands (8-5) will host Murphy and Tri-County will host Blue Ridge Early College (5-5-1) today. On Monday, Murphy hosts Hayesville (3-5), Andrews heads to Blue Ridge Early College and Tri-County heads to Highlands.