CLEVELAND, Tenn. - Cleveland High Schooll punctuated its boys' soccer season with a senior night celebration and its 10th win Tuesday night. The game with visiting Howard was close throughout, but a late surge gave the Blue Raiders a 3-0 nondistrict victory.
"It was just a great night," Cleveland coach John Brose said. "We got to celebrate our six seniors and two exchange students, and we ended our season with a shutout."
Howard (10-3-2) was aggressive early, using its quickness to find seams and take shots toward the goal. While the Hustlin' Tigers were able to take shots in bunches, most of them were from long range and senior keeper Juan Flores was able to handle them.
Cleveland (10-5-3) was able to turn the tide with just over 13 minutes to go in the first half with a rebound from Elvin Palacios. Dangerous forward Javier Pineda lined up a free kick on the right side and bent a shot toward the upper left corner that smacked the post and landed at Palacios' feet. With the Howard goalkeeper leaping to prevent Pineda's stroke from going in, Palacios had an open look.
The sudden deficit after controlling most of the half did not deter the Tigers, as just minutes later a shot at the equalizer rocked the crossbar.
"I saw persistence," Howard coach Curtis Warner said of his offense. "I saw never giving up. This was the best I've seen us play with each other in a long time. It was a growing step for us."
The hosts held the lead into halftime and almost doubled it coming out of the break. Howard responded with a header off a corner kick going just wide and another shot missing high. The teams continued to trade shots as Cleveland, which had not generated much offense in the first half, started to find openings.
"It took us a while to get into our rhythm because we started a couple of people who don't normally start," Brose said. "I think our backs did a great job and Juan had some nice saves in the goal. I think Howard had more chances, but we had better ones."
The Blue Raiders got an opportunity on a corner kick with the ball rattling around in the box. They got a couple of shots at the goal but didn't find the back of the net. As time ticked under 10 minutes, Pineda got another shot and did not miss. Casey Beck lobbed an indirect free kick into the penalty area, where Pineda was waiting to volley it in the air.
Mees Dokter closed the scoring in a special moment for the Netherlands native. Dokter was one of the exchange students celebrated during his last game. Brose pulled him up from the junior varsity squad, and he was rewarded with a breakaway goal.
Both squads now head into their respective district tournaments looking to defend titles. Brose said finishing the regular season against quality opponents was good preparation, and Warner echoed those sentiments.
"It's good to see where we are," Warner said. "There are things we can gain from our mistakes as well as our success. We played well against stiff competition and had a few mistakes that led to their goals tonight."
The Tigers led 13-11 on the shot count. Flores preserved the clean sheet for the Blue Raiders with six saves.
Contact Idris Garcia at sports@timesfreepress.com.