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STAR CORRESPONDENT

BRISTOL, Va. An instant classic boys soccer match took place on Thursday evening at Stone Castle when the Elizabethton Cyclones took on the Tennessee High Vikings. The Vikings struck first and last with sophomore Landon Chavez striking a left footed blast past EHS goalkeeper Tucker Taylor in the 79th minute to give THS a 3-2 victory.

“Missing Reece (Vernon) hurts us quite a bit and not having Jackson (Miller) on the back line,” Cyclones head coach Doug Schultz said. “Both are out with illness and slight injury. Playing on this narrow field was not good for us, but I’m not making excuses. Overall, I don’t think we were ready to play.”

The Vikings scored in the 15th minute of action on a shot by senior James Bowling with an assist from Jackson Ferrell for a 1-nil advantage. The Cyclones were on their heels for much of the first half as the Vikings quick passing attack saw them a step slow to react.

The Vikings took advantage of a breakaway from Ferrell who slid a low shot into the Cyclone nets for a 2-nil lead. Ferrell’s tally came in the 17th minute.

In the 24th minute sophomore Drake Teague scored on a nifty pass from Tylar Jenkins to make it a 2-1 match. That was all the scoring in the first half and THS opened with a flurry to open the second half with Taylor more than up to the task of keeping the ball out of the EHS nets with several acrobatic saves on free kicks and corner kick set pieces.

The Cyclones (6-1-1 conference) got the equalizer in the 67th minute off a corner kick from Connor Blevins that Riley Vernon headed past Vikings keeper Elijah Knowles. The Cyclones seemed energized by the Vernon tally and began to exert pressure on the Vikings back line with several dribble drives into the attacking end of the pitch.

On one drive Vernon saw his shot blast off the crossbar on a shot Knowles would have never stopped as it was past him when it struck the frame. Later however, the Cyclones got caught flatfooted on the back line when Chavez took possession near the home sideline at about the 30 yard line.

He took a short dribble and fired a high rocket that snapped the nets in the final minute of play. Unfortunately one minute before the Chavez shot senior Roman Shelby was given a red card for aggressive play and Vernon was shown a second yellow card which equals a ‘soft’ red card so he will be available for the opening game of the district tournament which opens May 7.

Shelby will have to sit that game out.

Boy’s Soccer

Stone Castle

Tennessee High 3-2

Elizabethton 1 1 – 2

THS 2 1 – 3

Scoring summary

First Half

T – Bowling (assist Ferrell) 15:00

T – Ferrell (unassisted) 17:00

E – Teague (assist Jenkins) 24:00

Second Half

E – Vernon (assist Blevins) 67:00

T – Chavez (unassisted) 79:00