Special to the MDN – The Swain High Men’s Soccer team traveled to 3A Erwin on Thursday to take on the Erwin Warriors on Erwin’s Senior night. Erwin plays in The Mountain 3A/4A Conference. It was a hard fought game until the final whistle. Erwin would get on the scoreboard first 18 minutes into the game. Erwin would add a second goal with 6 minutes left in the first half. The first half would end with Erwin having a 2-0 lead.
The Devils would rebound strong, scoring their first goal 3 minutes into the half when Senior Gavin Lanning would find Junior Landon Matz with a perfectly placed free kick. With just 12 minutes left in the game Matz would steal a ball and take a few dribbles and shoot it right past the keeper making the score 2-2. With 6 minutes left Matz would steal another ball, dribbling around the keeper, and scoring his third goal giving him a hat trick on the night. The Devils would play defense the next 6 minutes securing the 3-2 victory. “This was a big win for us. It is one of the loudest crowds we have ever played in front of. Their 12th man support was really big.” said Head Coach Scott Cline. “Overall we played a good game. Our players could have dropped their heads when we were down 2-0, but they dug in and responded well.”
On Defense Senior Levi Trantham led the way with 14 Clears/Steals. He was followed by Seniors Taligwo Walker and Lucas Trantham with 11, Junior Canon Helpman with 5 and Sophomore Revis Robinson with 4. In goal Junior Cameron Phillips recorded 13 Goalkeeper Saves. The Player of the Game for the Devils was Landon Matz. “Landon did an amazing job taking charge and finding ways to score goals.” said Cline.
This week the Devils have two key conference matchups to decide the Smoky Mountain Conference Championship. On Monday they host Highlands at 6:00. Currently Highlands is one game behind Swain in the conference. On Thursday Swain hosts Blue Ridge at 6:00 for Senior Night. The Devils are currently undefeated in conference play and ranked number 12 in the Western part of the state.