Graham Hammond's OT goal gives Cleveland district title

Cleveland High School boys' soccer coach John Brose and his Blue Raiders earned the District 5-AAA title with Wednesday's 3-2 overtime win against McMinn County. Graham Hammond scored twice to lead Cleveland.
Cleveland High School boys' soccer coach John Brose and his Blue Raiders earned the District 5-AAA title with Wednesday's 3-2 overtime win against McMinn County. Graham Hammond scored twice to lead Cleveland.

CLEVELAND, Tenn. - Initially, Graham Hammond was trying to get out of the way.

Then a ricochet put the Cleveland High School senior soccer player right in the middle of the game's most important turn of events, and he made the most of the opportunity.

Hammond connected on the game-winning goal in the 102nd minute, and the Blue Raiders claimed their first District 5-AAA championship since 2013 with a 3-2 overtime victory against McMinn County on Wednesday.

The Class AAA 10th-ranked Raiders (14-2-3) will face the loser of the District 6-AAA final between Warren County and Cookeville in next week's Region 3-AAA semifinals, while the Cherokees (12-9) will travel to the winner.

Hammond had two of his team's three goals, helping Cleveland rally from a pair of one-goal deficits.

"Anyway we can get it done, we'll take it," Cleveland coach John Brose said. "Hats off to McMinn; they played their hearts out and made things difficult for us. They played well in the back, but we hung tough and were able to fight back from down a goal.

"It was an exciting game, a fun game to be a part of."

Grant Taylor scored the team's first goal, moments before the half. Jack Rymer had goals in each half for the Cherokees, the latter in the 69th minute to give McMinn a 2-1 edge, but Hammond scored his first goal of the match off a corner kick.

His second score came after teammate Jonathan Collins was trying to line up a shot. Collins' attempt was deflected by a McMinn defender, but the ball bounced to Hammond, who found a crease and put the shot away.

"I knew I could step in and poke the ball past him," Hammond said. "It feels great to get this win. Coach wants it, we all want it. We've got 16 seniors, so it feels great to get this win in the district tournament."

McMinn coach Jacob Slack's team needed kicks from the penalty mark to defeat Walker Valley in extra time on Monday, but the Cherokees had a solid performance Wednesday - and opportunities to win the match in regulation.

"I thought we played a heck of a match against heck of competition," Slack said. "We got an early lead but couldn't hold it. It's unfortunate that we couldn't seal it up in regulation, but we'll learn a lot from it - about the intensity it takes to carry on through.

"We've got an uphill battle in front of us, but it's not anything the guys can't get mentally prepared for. Come Tuesday, we'll be ready."

Contact Gene Henley at ghenley@timesfreepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @genehenleytfp.

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