McMinn Central holds off SBA, 3-2

ENGLEWOOD, Tenn. — McMinn Central soccer coach Bill McConkey came into the season thinking that if his young Chargerettes could place third in District 5-A/AA, they would be lucky.

Now a win away from the district championship, they’ve got him readjusting his thinking.

The Chargerettes scored two goals in the final 10 minutes — breaking a 1-all tie — and held on to defeat Silverdale Baptist Academy 3-2 to advance to their second consecutive district final.

McMinn Central (7-5-2) will face Boyd-Buchanan (12-3-2), a 1-0 winner over Grace Academy, in the Thursday championship game at 7.

McConkey said his team was fortunate to win Tuesday after beating Silverdale 3-0 in their regular-season meeting.

“Silverdale is a good team,” he said. “They have improved a lot, but I thought we played a lot better in the second half than in the first.”

His team led at halftime, however, after Moriah Giles scored on a shot from midfield. Giles’ shot — meant to be a pass upfield to the forwards — bounced over keeper Katelyn Carlson and into the goal.

“The first goal was unfortunate,” Silverdale coach Chris Neighbors said. “I should have been telling her to back up; sometimes you just get a bounce like that.”

After the goal, the Lady Seahawks (10-7-2) seemed to get the better of the possession. Abbie Alosi, Ryan Alosi and Hannah Squires started to get solid advances deep into the McMinn Central defense and created several chances — but no goals in the first 40 minutes.

They did tie the game in the 62nd minute on a Ryan Alosi free kick.

With the game tied, questions began to arise in the crowd about darkness coming into effect in an overtime, as the Chargerettes’ field does not have lights. The questions didn’t last long, however: In the 70th minute, Cayci Coleman fed Nakita Raper, who banged a shot in from the right side for the go-ahead goal.

Ashley Johnson made it 3-1 five minutes later, but Silverdale halved the margin n stoppage time when Squires banked in a shot off the left post. The Lady Seahawks continued to press, but a late clear by Central ended the game.

“I was really pleased with the fact we didn’t give up,” Neighbors said. “We had a couple breakdowns late in the back, but we didn’t give up.”