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McClain boys soccer earns tie with Eastern

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McClain's Jayden Lanning and Eastern's Cayden Wills battle in their nonconference game, Wednesday at MHS. (HCP Photos/Jim Jones)
By
Jim Jones, The Highland County Press

It was an exciting and entertaining finish to the regular season Wednesday, Oct. 9 when the McClain and Eastern Brown boys soccer teams battled to a hard-fought 2-2 final in Greenfield.

The game was nonstop action from start to finish, like two heavyweight boxers going at it for 15 rounds. After the horn sounded ending the match, both teams were visibly drained and exhausted, showing that everyone who played left it all on the field.

“This was an awesome game to watch,” McClain head coach John Gill said after the game. “It was thoroughly entertaining and a match where both teams were very evenly matched, as the final score showed.

“Props to Eastern Brown, that’s a team that had a rough season last year when they lost a lot of games, but they’ve had a complete turnaround this year, and they’re a well-oiled machine.”

The Warriors scored first at the 22:13 mark of the opening half on an impressive unassisted goal by Cayden Wills, but McClain answered moments later on a breakaway goal by Creed Davis.

The Tigers took the lead at the 15:16 mark on another impressive goal by Gustavo Simas when he seemed to work his way through several Eastern defenders. But the 2-1 McClain lead was short-lived, as Eastern’s Noah Shuemake tied the match again at 2-2 with 7:58 remaining on the first-half clock which is how the opening half ended.

Neither team could find the back of the net in the second 40 minutes of play, due mainly to some great defensive play by both squads and some spectacular stops at the goal by their young goalies.

“Zane Knisley, our goalkeeper, played another solid game for us tonight,” Gill said. “He even took a blow to the face but shook it off and continued playing.

“He’s only a freshman and continues to make some crazy saves. That kid is going to be a stud at the net over the next few years.”

The Tigers have had an up and down season but over the last few games have played probably their best soccer on both sides of the field. They’ve been very competitive in every game down the stretch heading into tournament play and really seem to be energized for the past season.

“Our midfielders are finally coming together and are moving the ball really well scoring goals, and our defense seems to have figured everything out,” Gill said. “We were a little short-handed tonight with three players out, so we were a little limited to what we could do, but the guys who touched the field were tremendous and played extremely hard.

“We’ve got five practices before we start tournament play at Zane Trace, so we’re going to lock it down and really work hard on some things that need addressed. Zane Trace is a very experienced and well-coached team, and we know it’s going to be a tough one, but my guys are looking forward to the challenge, and we’ll show up and compete.”


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