By Thomas Sellers Jr.
If the players from the Haywood Tomcats and Millington Trojans needed a movie title to summarize their March 30 match up at Hornet Field, “A River Runs Through It” would have been suffice.
The 1992 American drama’s title described the visual for players, coaches, officials and spectators. Heavy rains created large puddles, deep pools of water and watery barrier that cut three-feet off both sides of the field.
The District 15-2A showdown presented a challenge to both teams with the Trojans prevailing a 4-1.
“It really was a team effort,” Millington Head Coach William Carter said. “We switched to a different formation there and really took off. I think everybody really understood their responsibilities and performed really well.
“We did a much better job this game than our previous two games possessing the ball, passing the ball and not playing panic soccer,” he continued. “When we possess the ball like that, we have the other team really stressed out and panicking. I really like what we did out there.”
Millington improved to 2-1 overall on the young season and 2-0 in district play. The Trojans needed a comeback to outlast the Covington Chargers on the road. Millington defeated its league foe 3-2 in overtime after trailing 2-0 late in the game.
The Trojans seized control of the Haywood game early. Despite the muddy field, Millington senior Colby Goode flowed through the Tomcat defense like the streams of water on the Hornet field.
Just 12 minutes into the contest, Goode connected on a goal to make it 1-0. Moments later Goode took a pass from teammate Josue Torres and chipped in a shot into the net for a 2-0 advantage.
Then with less than 2 minutes remaining in the first half Goode achieve a hat trick with breakaway goal and Millington held a 3-0 lead at the break.
After the Tomcats made the score 3-1 turning up the physicality, Millington had to play possession ball.
Late in the game Trojan freshman Chase Michael added a goal to make the final 4-1.
“We started off playing a really good possession game,” Carter noted. “Which I like in that first half, we established the fact we were having the better day than they were. I think this was a really good team we were playing in Haywood. They just didn’t have a whole lot of subs which frustrated them and had them fighting among themselves.
“We did a really good job of not doing what we did in the other two games of waiting to see what the other team does,” he concluded. “We came out and did what we wanted to do to establish the rhythm of the game. That was key.”
