As 2016 draws to a close, Thunder Radio Sports looks back at some of the highlights of the calendar year for each of the 12 prep sports. Today we look back at a highlight from each of the middle school and high school soccer teams. We began the year in the spring with boys’ soccer. The highlight of the soccer season came on April 23rd as Westwood defeated Webb to win the CTSC conference tournament title.
Thunder Radio reported on their success with the following story we published on April 25th
Members of the Westwood soccer team celebrate with their conference title trophy on Saturday.
For the 2nd year in a row, the Westwood Rockets soccer team earned the title of the Central Tennessee Soccer Conference champions with a 4 to 0 win on Saturday over Webb at Dyer-Bouldin Field. Felix Salinas scored a pair of first half goals and added his 3rd in the second half to secure his 2nd straight hat trick in the tournament. Salinas finished the season with 35 goals as he averaged more than 2 goals per game for the Rockets. Elliot Sain added a goal in the 59th minute to add the final notch on the Rockets’ championship belt. Leo Basurto added a pair of assists for Westwood.
The Webb defense made it a priority to use 4 defenders in the match to try to frustrate a Rocket attack that scored 12 goals on Friday night. Westwood, which was held to 3 shots in the first half, made the necessary adjustments at the half to get 7 shots on frame in the second half.
The Rockets dominated the play in the midfield as Leo Suarez and Basurto neutralized nearly every Webb counterattack. On the outside, Andres Cavalie, Renato Ayala, Samuel Workman and Eric Randolph were effective in making the Webb defense move and get out of position to open up shots in the 2nd half. Reserves Angel Gonzalez, Jalen Shelton and Sain provided much needed energy and momentum off the bench for Westwood.
The Westwood defense was spectacular on the game as defenders Aiden Stowe, Corey Walker and Nicholas Johnson continued to frustrate the talented strikers from Webb and hold the Feet to 2 shots on frame. Keeper Cailan McLean stopped both of those shots to give the Rockets their 12th win of the season.
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The Coffee County Middle School soccer team had trouble scoring goals at times but the highlight of the year came on March 15th when the Raiders blanked White County 4 to 0.
Thunder Radio reported on their success with the following story we published on March 16th
The Coffee County Middle School soccer team earned their first win of the year on Tuesday night with a 4 to 0 defeat of White County in Sparta. The game, which was a make-up from March 3rd, saw the Raiders take a 1 to 0 halftime lead thanks to a White County Own goal in the 15th minute. In the second half, Tucker Anderson, Hayden Hargrove and Isaiah Escamilla all netted goals for Coffee County as Anderson also added an assist. To complete the sweep, the JV team dropped White County 2 to 1. With the win, the Raiders evened their record at 1 and 1 on the young season. Coffee County travels to Shelbyville to take on Harris on Thursday night. The varsity game is set to kick off at 5:30 PM.
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The CHS Red Raiders saw their season come to an end in double overtime in the district tournament. The highlight of the year took place on April 15th when Coffee County beat Tullahoma to hold on to the Coffee Cup.
Thunder Radio reported on their success with the following story we published on April 18h
The CHS Soccer teams celebrates with the Coffee Cup trophy
Breyer Taylor scored twice, Paco Barrera had a spectacular goal and David Fernandez netted the game winner as the Coffee County soccer team defeated Tullahoma 4 to 3 on Friday night in Tullahoma to retain the Coffee Cup. The win, which is the first for a Coffee County men’s team on the Tullahoma pitch, marks a milestone in that the Class of 2016 soccer players will have never lost to their cross county rivals. Friday’s win is the 2nd in a row over Tullahoma after a pair of draws in 2013 and 2014. A large contingent of Red Raider fans showed up to cheer on Coffee County and actually outnumbered the Tullahoma fans in attendance. They were treated to an outstanding match whose outcome was not decided until Breyer Taylor pushed a pass forward in the final 10 seconds to allow the clock to run out.
Breyer Taylor
Taylor got the lone goal for Coffee County in the 1st half off a direct kick just outside the 18 yard box in the 13th minute. Cason Conner of Tullahoma knotted the score in the 25th minute to send the game to the half even at 1. In the 2nd half, Tullahoma was awarded a penalty kick in the 43rd minute, only to see Paco Barrera take the ensuring kick-off up the middle of the field to tie the score at 2 a mere 6 seconds later. Taylor notched his second goal at the 47 minute mark only to see Tullahoma’s Conner tie it again in the 59th minute. That goal seemed to awaken some urgency in Coffee County as they turned on the offensive pressure only to see David Fernandez slide across the goal mouth and flick a rebound past the keeper in the 63rd minute. John Parigger was solid in goal as he turned away 6 of 9 Tullahoma shots on frame, but he also displayed great decision making in the box to thwart a handful of Wildcat scoring opportunities. After the game, Taylor was named the most outstanding player for Coffee County and Conner was tabbed for the Wildcats in an awards ceremony presented by First Vision Bank. The win moves the Raiders into a first place tie in the district with Shelbyville. Coffee County will take on Shelbyville on Tuesday at 7 PM in a match to be held at Shelbyville.
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We continue our year in review on Thursday when we look back at the year in prep baseball.
