Special to the MDN – The Swain High Men’s Soccer team hosted the Mountain Heritage Cougars on Monday night. It was a hard fought game all the way to the final whistle between the Devils and Cougars. The first half had both teams playing strong defense. It would take the Cougars 32 minutes to score the first goal of the game. The Devils would go in trailing at the half 1-0.
The second half would be a different story on the scoring. Five minutes into the half the Cougars would add another goal putting them up 2-0. Swain would answer with 22 minutes left in the game when Sophomore Owen Craig would find Junior Landon Matz for a goal. Three minutes later the Cougars would commit a foul right outside the box. Matz would take the free kick, driving his shot right into the goal around a wall of Cougar defenders tying the game 2-2. With 9 minutes left in the game the Cougars would add their final goal of the game giving them the 3-2 lead. The game would finish with the score at 3-2 giving the Devils their first loss of the season on their home field. “That was a tough game for us. We had a lot of players who had high intensity throughout the game.” said Head Coach Scott Cline. “It was a game that we knew we could win, but it was just outside of our grasp. I was proud of our team and how they battled all the way to the end.”
Senior Taligwo Walker and Freshman Brenden Lanning led the defense with 9 Clears/Steals each. Behind them were Senior Lucas Trantham with 8, and Senior Gavin Lanning and Junior Canon Helpman each with 6. In goal Junior Cameron Phillips had 19 saves. The Player of the Game was Landon Matz. “Landon fought hard throughout the game. Not just offensively, but also defensively.” said Cline.