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.