Greenfield — The McClain Tigers finished their boys soccer season of resurgence Saturday. The Tigers lost 5-3 to the Athens Bulldogs at McClain Field in sectional tournament finals play.
Athens scored the first goal five minutes into the matchup, but McClain struck back 30 seconds later with a goal from Raymond Daughtery. The Bulldogs did not flinch after the McClain goal. Athens came back on fire to finish to half with three goals by Danny Goetz — first at 25:28, second goal at 17:50, and his third goal was made with four seconds left in the first half, making the score 4-1.
McClain played defense for almost 30 minutes of the second half of the game until they crumbled and allowed the Bulldogs to kick in another goal with 9:58 left. The Tigers took control of the game for the last nine minutes of play scoring two more goals in hopes of a comeback. Haydon Hice scored his first goal with 8:56 left off an assist by Memphis Beatty, and Griffin Foltz score the final goal of the matchup with 38 seconds left off an assist from Braedon Bergstrom. The Tigers came up short after a hard-fought battle late into the second half.
“I felt boys matched up well, especially in the second half,” said McClain Tigers Coach Nick McNeal
McClain’s final record for the season was 9-9-0 overall, 4-6 in the Frontier Athletic Conference, and 1-1 in tournament playh this season.
“We had a lot of guys step up this season, and I’m looking forward to next season. We can do some great things,” said McNeal.
Reach Tate Erkenbrecher at 937-402-2572.
