| Dyersburg escapes with win over Panthers |
By: Stephanie Sturgis - Press Sports Editor
|
|
Fire away — The Dyersburg goalkeeper (right) races out of the net to try to stop a shot off the foot of Martin Middle School's Adam Reinhard during soccer action Thursday at MMS. The visiting squad escaped with a 2-0 win over Martin.
|
|
In a tight defensive struggle, the Martin Middle School Panthers soccer team gave up one second-half goal and fell to the visiting Dyersburg Middle School team, 1-0, Thursday afternoon at Martin.
The win for Dyersburg put the team from Dyer County in first place in the district standings just ahead of the Panthers and handed Martin only its second loss of the season.
A save by Panther goalkeeper Scout Edwards in the first two minutes of action was countered by a diving save by the Dyersburg net minder five minutes into the game.
With eight minutes gone, Martin got another strong push into the offensive end. Lee Demarchio lofted a long, looping pass ahead to Adam Reinhard. The Panthers' eighth-grade forward was challenged by the DMS keeper coming out, forcing Reinhard's laser shot just wide of the goal to keep the game scoreless.
Dyersburg got the next two scoring chances with Edwards deflecting a hard shot wide and then a DMS header off a corner kick missing the net.
The Martin offense had the next flurry of chances. A direct kick was deflected out of bounds by the DMS keeper, setting up a corner kick for the Panthers. That kick sailed over everyone. A minute later, the Panthers had a centering pass just elude the feet of three different MMS forwards in the box.
In the final 14 minutes of the first half, the Panthers continually dodged the bullet. Edwards made a save on a header. The visitors just missed getting a head on another excellent crossing pass and then rattled the ball around in front of the MMS net with one possession cleared out by the Panther defenders and a second shot trickling wide of the net and over the end line.
When the first half ended, the score remained 0-0.
The Panthers got the first scoring chance of the second half, but a nice save on a point blank shot kept the game scoreless.
Edwards deflected a DMS shot over the cross bar in what was a hectic beginning to the half.
Dyersburg maintained the pressure on Edwards and kept the ball on its offensive end for most of the second half.
At the 21-minute mark of the second half, Dyersburg broke through with a good centering pass followed by a touch pass in the box to set up the low shot for the game's only goal.
The Martin offense, needing one goal to force a tie, could not slip a shot past the DMS keeper and the Panthers lost 1-0. |
|
Printer-friendly format
|
|
