Boys Soccer: Devils fall in SHAC showdown

By Mark Carpenter

People’s Defender

As it seems to every season, the boys soccer title in the Southern Hills Athletic Conference again came down to a match up between the North Adams Green Devils and the Lynchburg-Clay Mustangs. This year’s contest was a bit more suspenseful as the two teams met earlier in the season only to see that game suspended by inclement weather barely eight minutes into the first half.

The conclusion of the game came on Monday, October 7 at NAHS, again with the SHAC title on the line. The Devils came in a 6-o in conference play while the Mustangs were at 6-0-1, a tie with Eastern Brown on their record. If North Adams won, they would be one game away from clinching the crown, while a Lynchburg win would give them the title as Monday was their final conference outing.

On an absolutely perfect night for soccer, it was the Mustangs who struck first, getting a goal from Braedon West at the 24:49 mark of the first half, a goal that turned out to be all the visitors would need. Though North Adams goalkeeper Jayce Rothwell made some acrobatic saves, the Mustangs slipped another one past him, a score from sophomore Mason Fisher that snuck by a diving Rothwell for a 2-0 halftime advantage.

The story of the second half was the Devils desperately trying to attack the Lynchburg goal while the Mustang defense continually thwarted every charge. The visitors got another goal with 10:44 to play, one that sealed the deal on their win and yet another SHAC boys soccer title for Lynchburg.

“Our touches weren’t there, our clears weren’t there, our energy wasn’t there,” said North Adams head coach Kirk Bunn after the rough loss. “This is a big rivalry and the league always seems to come down to this game. They’re a good team and they do a lot of things right and today they did more things right than we did, which is what it usually comes to when you have a quality match up.”

The now 11-3-2 Devils have a pair of regular season contest left before the postseason, beginning with a non-conference trip to Lucasville Valley on Thursday, October 10, then the final regular season and conference game the next night at Fairfield.