CLEVELAND, Tenn. -- Over the course of the season, Cleveland boys' soccer coach John Brose might not have felt good about his team in close games. In the Blue Raiders' nine wins, the average margin of victory was almost five goals, and none were by less than two.
Thursday, in the District 5-AAA championship game against rival McMinn County, the Raiders finally got it done in a tight contest.
Garrett Koon scored midway through the second half and the Raiders made it stick, defeating the Cherokees 1-0 for Cleveland's second consecutive district title.
"I'm happy with how we played," Brose said. "We toughed it out, got a goal in the second half and played smart enough to keep them out of the goal.
"A district championship was one of our goals before the season, so this is a happy night."
Both teams had prime opportunities in both halves. McMinn had a pair of good looks in the second half right in front of the goal, but Cleveland keeper Ted Lackey made outstanding saves on shots by Codey Geren and Matt Cardin.
The Raiders (9-7-3) finally broke free in the 56th minute. Adam Martin made an excellent through pass to Koon, who had enough time to settle the ball before knocking it past keeper Connar Roberts.
McMinn didn't quit, coming back and getting an opportunity when Cleveland was called for a handball right outside the box. Kevin Cardona nailed the ensuing free kick high.
Later, Cleveland had an opportunity to add an insurance goal when Wes Llosa was fouled outside of the box, but Martin pushed his penalty kick just wide.
The match was a far cry from the Raiders' 5-0 blowout of the Cherokees on April 6.
"The first game didn't reflect how good McMinn was," Brose said. "They came out with more energy and outplayed us in the first half. My hat's off to them for how they played."
Said McMinn coach David McDonald: "I'm very proud of how we've progressed. I think we're clicking. We're playing as a team, not individually for stats. We weren't able to penetrate as much as I'd hoped for, but we had opportunities and took advantage.
"It's going to be a loss, but it was a close one."