Ethan Abplanalp
The much anticipated rematch of the 2015 District 8 AAA soccer title game between Columbia and Coffee County did not disappoint on Thursday night as Coffee County got a 1 nil win in extra time in Manchester. Ethan Abplanalp scored on a great pass from Paco Barrera in the 99th minute to notch the lone goal of the contest. The goal, which came 19 minutes into the extra period came 1 minute before the 2 teams would have gone to penalty kicks to decide a winner. Coach Robert Harper praised the sophomore saying: “(That was a) great spot for his first career varsity goal.” The goal was the first for Coffee County against senior goalkeeper Luke Wilson who has signed to play college soccer at Lipscomb. “Five and a half hours of soccer in the last 3 years against the best keeper these guys are ever gonna see before we finally scored on him” laughed Harper following the game. The win moves Coffee County into first place in the district with a record of 2 and 0 with a pair of critical district contests coming up in the next 2 weeks with Tullahoma and Shelbyville.
