The Highlanders boys varsity soccer team triumphed with a 9-1 win over the Cherokee Braves at home on Monday.
It came after a loss to the Franklin Panthers on Thursday, Sept. 12 and a win over the Hayesville Yellow Jackets on Wednesday, Sept. 11.
Highlanders junior Anaiah Mckim scored early on and put the home team ahead 1-0. Senior Finn Garner wasn’t far behind him, scoring a few minutes after that to get the team to 2-0. The team overall presented a good offense throughout the game, keeping after the ball and keeping pressure.
With 24 minutes to go, they got a third goal in courtesy of a shot from junior Isaiah Vilardo, then a few minutes later, freshman Tucker Wilson scored and raised the score to 4-0. The Braves scored their sole goal of the game with 3:30 left on the clock in the first half, and the half ended with the Highlanders up 4-1.
After halftime, Vilardo didn’t waste time delivering another goal, raising the score to 5-1. Then, as one of the Braves attempted to maneuver the ball right after that, he accidentally kicked it into his own team’s goal, which got the score to 6-1.
The Braves crowded around the goalie box to try and drive the Highlanders away and clusters of players struggling over the ball created a frenetic game that didn’t slow down.
The Highlanders were able to maintain an aggressive offense and kept the goals coming. Villardo scored again with 29 minutes left, giving the Highlanders a 7-1 lead, which rose to 8-1 when freshman Rowan Carnes scored a few minutes after that with a strong shot. Finally, with just three minutes left on the clock, sophomore Francisco Gooch got a goal in from the edge of the field and finished the game for the Highlanders 9-1.
Coach Caleb Brown said the victory was well-earned as the Highlanders “scored a lot of great goals.”
“They played together as a team,” he said. “We keep improving week by week, and all that stuff comes from hard work. They’ve been putting in a lot of hard work and that’s what counts. The values that we’re really espousing like sportsmanship, honor, integrity, being a good person – that stuff translates on the field as it does off the field.”
He called the Braves “a tough team” to play against and said the Highlanders still planned to work on a few things like passing, moving the ball and “really knowing our position and maintaining our shape when we attack and retreat.” But he said the team had done well at working together so far.
“They did a good job not doing the same thing over and over again. They kept trying to change their method of attack,” Brown said of his athletes.
The Highlanders had an away game against the Murphy Bulldogs on Wednesday, Sept. 18 after press time. Their next game is an away game scheduled for tonight, Monday, Sept. 23 against the Tri-County Jaguars.