Smoky Mountain's Stephen Brown goes over the top of an East Henderson player in an effort to control the ball during last week's 3-3 tie. - Herald photo by Stephanie Winger
East Henderson rallied from a 3-0 deficit early in the second half to salvage a 3-3 overtime tie with Smoky Mountain on Oct. 2 in a Mountain Athletic Conference soccer game. The Mustangs scored all of their goals in a span of just over four minutes starting late in the first half. "This is the third time in 10 days we've had a lead and lost it," Coach Dolphus Brown said. "We have played great soccer. We didn't play great soccer against East. Except for right before the half and right after, we let them outplay us." He called the loss "disturbing" since it all but eliminated SM's hopes of being one of five MAC teams to reach the state playoffs. After playing a scoreless tie almost the entire half, Eric McManus put the Mustangs on the board just 1:10 before intermission. Brown called it a "championship goal" as McManus scored from 10 yards out after taking a pass from Eric Neff, who was on the far wing. Paul Van Der Ven's header off Michael Tennant's corner kick made it 2-0 at the 43-minute mark. The lead reached 3-0 just a minute later when McManus scored from 8 yards out off Neff's throw-in. The Eagles started their comeback on Chris Johnston's goal at the 45:20 mark. "The ball was going back and forth, and we failed to clear it," Brown said. "We just froze for an instant, and he kicked it in." Seth McElrath cut the gap to 3-2 at the 54:50 mark. Brown said the score could almost have been an own goal as goalie Caleb Corwin had the ball in his hands but couldn't control it. The tying goal came at the 72:50 mark. Lawrence Frost was dribbling inside the box and shot from 14 yards to the far post. The teams played two scoreless 10-minute overtime periods. The Mustangs held a 23-18 advantage in shots. Corwin recorded 11 saves, and East's Daniel Burdett had 13. "We didn't play the ball real well in the air as a team," Brown said. "That's probably the best thing East Henderson does." East won the JV game 3-2. P.J. Arkansas and Jacob Myers scored SM's goals. "We really worked well together, particularly in the second half, in getting the ball up to our forwards," Coach Allen Painter said. "We just didn't do well getting it in the net, but we had a lot of opportunities. Everybody played real hard."
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