Top 18 from the Class of 18: Part 4, Games 6-8

Published 9:00 pm Thursday, June 7, 2018

To close out the week, the Daily Citizen-News’ countdown of the top games from the 2017-18 school year continues by running up to the top five.

Starting next week, we will reveal the top five games in the order the public voted them.

In today’s installment we feature a pair of soccer games, one between the area’s top two girls programs competing for a region title, the other on the boys side coming during the heart of the state playoffs. Also, a classic gridiron rivalry provides drama in its latest installment.

8. Boys soccer: North Murray 2, Dawson County 1, May 2

Not many expected the North Murray High School boys soccer team to match its 2017 success where it won the region title and advanced to the state quarterfinals.

But despite losing many seniors, this year’s version of the Mountaineers put together another season that rivaled the success any other team had in program history.

They went undefeated in the regular season, winning a second straight Region 6-3A championships.

However, they hit a roadblock in the second round of the state playoffs hosting Dawson County where the visiting Tigers took a 1-0 lead into halftime.

“It was probably one of the most intense soccer games I ever coached,” North Murray coach Matt Chambers said. “That game kind of went down and defined who we were as a team. One thing that won that game and defined us was passion. The boys came out with passion and played at as high of a level I’ve ever seen.”

North Murray tied it just three minutes into the second half on a goal by Brian Velazquez.

“I just remember getting the quick goal after the second half started, after that I knew we were going to win,” said North Murray’s Kevin Garcia. “It was definitely a good game, it’s up there. We went down in the first half but we never gave up as a team. We ended up winning.”

The Mountaineers continued to push the pace until they set up for a corner kick midway through the half. The kick sailed to senior Janson Trejo, who belted it out of mid-air into the goal.

“We went down 1-0 in the first half, it kind of woke me up to say, ‘We’re losing, you got to do something for the team,'” Trejo said. “Brian scored to tie it, then I said, ‘Now it’s my time to show what’s up.’ When they corner happened, I called a play and told coach to trust me. Honestly, I didn’t know for sure the play would work, but it did. I felt accomplished when I did score that and we did end up winning. Knowing I could come up in such a big moment on such a big stage to lead and do what I was meant to do as a captain, it means a lot.”

After taking the lead, the North Murray defense held it and the Mountaineers advanced to the Elite Eight for the second straight season.

“I think it was a great team effort. We never gave up even though we were down by a goal early in the game, it motivated us to try even harder,” said North Murray’s Marcial Maldonado. “We got more pressure on them after that goal and we played better under pressure. We corrected our mistakes, everybody did their job.”

7. Girls soccer: Northwest Whitfield 2, Southeast Whitfield 1, April 13

The area’s top two girls soccer teams from this past season also represented the top rivalry in the area when it comes to girls soccer.

“We know it’s a huge game for both teams, a county rival,” Northwest coach David Huynh said. “I know Dalton’s in the county too and Coahulla Creek is another county school, but the Southeast game seems to matter the most because Southeast is in our region. I think it’s a game we prepare ourselves the most for because we know it’s going to be a tough game, and (Southeast coach Todd) Close will have his team prepared. It doesn’t matter what your record is, both teams bring it all when it comes to the Southeast-Northwest game.”

It just so happened both the Raiders and Bruins came into this year’s encounter toward the top of the region. Northwest held the top spot, unbeaten; Southeast had one region loss and beating Northwest would’ve forced a three-way tie atop the region with Heritage High School also in the mix.

“It was a very intense game,” Northwest’s Natalia Tapia said. “I really was nervous about it, the whole team was nervous about it. It was a very intense game, it turned out really good. We went in strong, we went in a little nervous but came in full speed and got the win.”

Northwest grabbed a 1-0 halftime lead when Jailyne Martinez scored towards the end of the first half. The lead held most of the second half despite Southeast’s offense putting intense pressure on Northwest’s goal and keeper Joanna Peralta, who came up with multiple big saves to keep her team head.

With five minutes left in the game, Southeast finally got its equalizer, Michelle Hernandez connecting from long range tying the match at 1.

However, only moments later Tapia received the ball off the kick off, dribbled down the field and came up with an answering goal that proved to be the game-winner.

“It just happened so fast,” Tapia said. “It was very memorable. I was definitely very excited about it when it happened. I didn’t know what to think at first, it was very shocking, but very exciting.”

“It started all the way back on our side of the field,” Huynh said. “Grace Threadgill played left back, played it up to Natalia. She dribbled through defenders and then scored that beautiful goal. It was the goal that sealed the deal and gave us that big win over Southeast.”

6. Football: Dalton 21, Northwest Whitfield 17, Sept. 1, 2017

Dalton has had the better end of one of the area’s top rivalries in recent years, winning eight straight meetings dating back to 2004 going into the latest showdown. Northwest, however, had strong reason to believe this would be the year the Bruins snapped the streak as they brought one of their best teams in recent memory into Harmon Field.

“I remember it being very intense,” Dalton offensive linemen Dylan Cole said. “It felt like there was so much more riding on this year’s game than there was in (the previous year’s) game at Northwest. It was easily the best home atmosphere that we had at Harmon this year. It was an amazing game and easily one of my favorites of my high school career.”

The Bruins, paced by star quarterback Luke Shiflett and bruising running back Dominique Sistrunk, had the advantage for most of the night, until Dalton quarterback JP Tighe led a late rally to help the Cats erase a 10-point deficit in the fourth quarter.

Northwest built an early lead off a long Sistrunk touchdown run and a Vicente Vaca field goal. Tighe finally put Dalton on the board with a 1-yard plunge with 5 seconds left in the first half. But the Bruins got another score in the second half and held a 17-7 lead with time ticking away.

Dalton had a punt return touchdown by Nasir Love-Porter called back by a penalty, but the Cats still had the ball and Tighe led a march down the field that culminated with the senior quarterback scoring from seven yards out.

On Northwest’s ensuing possession, Love-Porter came up with a clutch interception giving Dalton back the ball on Northwest’s 43. Five plays later, Tighe plunged into the end zone from a yard out for the go-ahead score.

Northwest got one more chance to answer, taking over with two and a half minutes left. Shiflett led the Bruins all the way to Dalton’s 12, but the Catamount defense answered the call stopping Northwest’s four tries at the end zone sealing the win.

“Playing Northwest is always a big rivalry game which brings a lot of hype and talk with it,” Dalton defensive back Grant Goldberg said. “Northwest played a great game and had us down by seven or more most of the game. Our defense got our footing and we played very physical which made a difference down the line once our offense got things going. The best play was the fourth down in our red zone when our defense sealed the victory.”