Andrews beats Cherokee, Blue Ridge; Tri-County falls in soccer
The Murphy varsity boys soccer team secured its seventh Smoky Mountain Conference win after defeating Highlands, the top team in the SMC, handing the Highlanders their first loss in the conference.
The Bulldogs’ (9-8-1) 2-1 win over Highlands (9-6) on Oct. 16 also snapped the Highlanders’ six-game win streak, which included an extra-time win over Murphy on Sept. 18. Almost a month later, the Dogs are the only SMC team with a win over Highlands.
The scoring got going in the first half with a goal from Jerry Bui to give Murphy a 1-0 lead, which they maintained into halftime.
The Dogs came back in the second half and Bui buried another one to give the Dogs a two-goal lead. Before the end of the half, Highlands scored to make it 2-1, but they couldn’t tie and Murphy gave them its first SMC loss.
Also on Oct. 16, Andrews headed to Cherokee and got their first win of the week.
The Wildcats (5-6-1) cruised to a 7-0 win over the Braves (0-11) to pick up their fourth SMC win of the season. The following day, Andrews picked up its second win of the week by defeating Blue Ridge Early College (6-7-1) 2-1 at home.
All three goals were scored in the first half. The Wildcats got an early goals, then Blue Ridge tied it up on a header a few minutes later.
Andrews then scored a second goal on a long free kick to take the lead. The Cats maintained the lead to get the win.
Also on Oct. 16, Tri-County (2-11-1) hosted Blue Ridge in the battle of early colleges, with Blue Ridge victorious after notching two goals in the first half to win 2-0. The first goal was a Tri-County own goal, while the second goal was controversial.
The second goal Blue Ridge scored was on a breakaway, with only a few players downfield. The reason for the breakaway was that Tri-County player Connor Arrowood went down injured after getting hit in the head by a Blue Ridge player. Typically, referees will stop the game when a player goes down hurt.
Despite fans, players and Tri-County head coach Chris Blanton yelling at the referees to stop the match for the injured player, the referees did not and Blue Ridge scored their second goal of the match. After the goal was scored, Arrowood got up and appeared to be OK, despite being hit in the head.
After the match, Blanton said the team played well – especially in the second half, when they didn’t allow Blue Ridge to score.
To prepare for the final few conference games, Blanton said, “We’re going to have a fun scrimmage [Saturday], and we’re going to work to make some corrections after what happened today.”
This week, the boys soccer regular season will conclude. Murphy will take on Tri-County at David Gentry Field at 6 p.m. today. Also today, Andrews is hosting Hayesville at 6 p.m. Tri-County will then host Hayesville at 6 p.m. Thursday.
To conclude the regular season, Andrews will host Murphy at 6 p.m. Monday. At the same time, Tri-County will host Swain County.