Bryson City- The athletic event for Wednesday, October 26th was a soccer game here at our stadium against Highlands. It has been said that Swain has not won a game against the mighty Highlands for 12 years. Swain had hoped that this game would end that losing streak. Having played Highlands the week before, not much improvement could be done in such a short amount of time. Their previous game ended with a lost of 1-0 with the only goal by Highlands scored halfway through the second half. Many observers thought this home game would be somewhat the same. However, Swain lost their second game to the second highest ranked team in their conference with a score of 4-1. In the first six minutes, Highlands had defeated Swain’s defence and scored two goals. Junior Brody Randell tried to save the second goal from going through but, after blocking the ball two times, Highlands knocked it in. Once our defence finally clicked into the game, the offence could push up and take shots like Sophomore Trey Bowman did. At the end of the first half, Swain was down 2-0.
Only three minutes into the second half, Highlands took a close but no goal shot, testing Randell’s goalie skills. With Randell trying his hardest to get his offence pushed up, Highlands scores seven minutes into the second half. Swain later had an injury which seemed minor since the player walked off the field. The rest of the second half had Randell and the defence working hard to keep Highlands out of their half of the field but they got one more goal putting the score 4-0. Around the last seven minutes of play, Bowman scores off of a pass from senior Carter Davis. Swain held Highlands off until they heard the buzzer end the game with a score 4-1 for Highlands.
Swain’s next and last soccer game of the season is Thursday, October 27th at Cherokee starting at 4PM. Come out and support our Maroon Devils!
Photography: Robin Pond (article photo), Joanna McMahan (featured photo)