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Mustangs top Bobcats in county soccer battle
In a battle of Jackson County schools, Smoky Mountain defeated Blue Ridge 3-1 in a non-conference soccer game on Sept. 13 at Carr Hooper Stadium/ Babe Howell Field.
SM Coach Dolphus Brown was impressed with Blue Ridge.
“We did not play well,” he said. “We didn’t play inspired. We talked about having respect for them. At the end of the game, our players were believers. Blue Ridge is good and is going to get better.”
Joey Cox opened the scoring for the Mustangs when he took a cross pass from Grant Schallock on the right side and tapped the ball in from 6 yards out at the 21-minute mark.
SM went up 2-0 four minutes into the second half when Schallock scored with an assist from Coleman Corzine.
“Grant got a nice pass out of the midfield on the right side,” Brown said. “The goalkeeper came out but wasn’t able to get the ball, and Grant shot it past him.”
The Bobcats cut the gap to 2-1 at the 47-minute mark on Arric Farmer’s penalty kick after a foul in the box.
Schallock’s header off David Cheatham’s corner kick concluded the scoring at the 76-minute mark.
“Grant was right where he was supposed to be, and David played the ball to him,” Brown said. “He headed it toward the far post. It was a beautiful textbook play.”
The Mustangs controlled the action with 27 shots to nine by Blue Ridge. SM’s Sterling Brady made eight saves, and Cody Williams recorded 15 for the Bobcats.
Brown noted the game was special to him because Blue Ridge is coached by Todd Drum, one of his former players.
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