CLEVELAND, Tenn. — With two goals, some stellar defense and a little restraint, the Cleveland High School boys’ soccer team made history Saturday evening.

The Blue Raiders reached the state tournament for the first time with a 2-0 win over Murfreesboro Blackman in a Class AAA state sectional game at the Cleveland Soccer Complex.

“Our guys were ready,” Cleveland coach John Brose said. “We said there were no excuses. We were in front of our home crowd in our brand-new soccer stadium. It was a great day to come out and play, and we came out and played great. I couldn’t be more proud of my guys.”

After some early pressure from Blackman, Cleveland began to take over about 10 minutes into the first period. The Blue Raiders created numerous scoring opportunities and finished one with 21:10 on the clock.

The Blaze struggled throughout the match to contain Cleveland’s Chris Schroll, and one of the junior’s runs paid off with a ball that Wes Llosa was in front of the net to finish.

“That took a ton of pressure off,” senior captain Drew Henderson said. “But it put some on, too, because you want to make sure they don’t get a goal right back. That’s what happened to us last year. We were that close to making it last year. We felt like we could get there then, so to do it this year is nice.”

The rest of the first half belonged to the Blue Raiders, whose offense kept pressure on the Blackman goal while their defenders let almost nothing get by them. Cleveland’s back three of Henderson, Drew Muth and Wes Hampton, with help from Grayson McConnell off the bench, limited the Blaze to four shots, and keeper Adam Gonzalez handled them all as the Raiders earned their 13th shutout.

Cleveland (18-5) also benefited from the numerous fouls called on the Blaze, including their first yellow card with 10:47 left in the period. The Raiders took advantage on the ensuing kick, sending a ball into the box that Lebron Lackey headed off the near post.

Junior Sias Reyneke ran straight for the rebound and headed it into the back of the net.

“Once we settled into things, we played extremely well,” Brose said. “We had lots of good opportunities on goal. To be honest, I’m surprised we didn’t get a couple more, but we’ll take anything at this point.”

The Raiders’ best chance to add to their lead in the second half came seven minutes in after Schroll had beaten the Blaze defense again. He was taken down from behind inside the box, but keeper Kyle Applebee saved Schroll’s penalty kick.

The yellow cards continued to pile up for Blackman, which picked up its fifth two minutes after Schroll sent a shot off the post. As the team’s frustration continued to build, a Blaze player received a red card after a scuffle broke out in stoppage time, and another skirmish erupted after the final horn sounded.

The confrontation occurred with the Raiders running onto the field and the Blaze headed off it. A group of Blackman players restrained one of their teammates, and the officials ran back onto the field to separate the teams.

“There had been some trash-talking and some extracurricular activity going on after the plays,” Brose said. “It’s unfortunate that things like that have to happen, but we always tell our guys to keep their heads and be bigger than that. I’m not 100 percent pleased with some of it, but we kept our heads as well as we could, I guess.”

After order was restored, the remaining players lined up for handshakes, and Cleveland resumed its celebration. The Raiders will make their state-tournament debut Wednesday in Murfreesboro.

“This has been the goal from the beginning of the year,” Brose said. “I told them we had the potential to be the best team this high school has ever seen. It’s all coming together, and I couldn’t be happier for them. It’s an unbelievable feeling.”

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