Murphy – It’s not often history is made on David Gentry Field at Bob Hendrix Memorial Stadium. But that happened on Sept. 26, when Tri-County Early College and Murphy met in boys soccer for the first time.
“It’s the most encouraging thing I’ve seen since being involved with soccer here,” Bulldogs head coach Justin Butler said. “To see them having a team, to see our rec leagues getting better, to see all of this, it’s encouraging for what we need for soccer in this region of the state.”
While Murphy (3-5-1, 2-3-1 Smoky Mountain Conference) has a boys team again this year after a one-year hiatus, this is the first year the Jaguars (0-3, 0-3) have ever had a boys soccer team. Andrews also has a soccer team this year for the first time since 2017.
“The more teams there are, the more field time the more kids get to play,” Tri-County head coach Jeff Parker said.
Parker, who was previously an assistant coach under Butler for two seasons, also has experience with soccer culture after living in Germany for seven years. Both his sons played the games starting when they were 3 years old.
Parker has an excellent and speedy midfielder in Domenic Calascione, but most of Tri-County’s players have never played before. The goal is to get them experience and enjoy the game.
“I want them to have fun more than anything else,” Parker said. “I tell them that before every game, never quit. Other than that, all we can do is practice and get better.”
The game was lopsided, with Murphy winning 9-0 and ending with 3:54 to go in mercy rule. The Bulldogs dominated the run of play for most of the game, with freshman Samuel Lewis recording a hat trick and four other players scoring goals. Tri-County still had its opportunities in the second half and both teams continued to press and look for chances until the final whistle.
“When they know each other and everything, emotion is higher in a good way,” Butler said. “It makes everybody play better and everybody play harder. And that’s what both teams did.”