Greeneville, TENN – The Greeneville soccer team defeated David Crockett 3-1 in the Region 1-AA Final on Thursday night from Burley stadium to earn the program’s 12th Regional Championship in the last 13 years. Crockett was playing in the first Regional Final in school history and they will travel to Cocke County, the Region 2 champions, who likewise, played in the school’s first Regional Final. Greeneville will host Austin-East on Saturday at 4pm from Burley Stadium.
Greeneville opened the first ten minutes with some sustained pressure on the back line of Crockett but were unable to find the target. The next eight minutes belonged to Crockett as the Pioneers forced Tanner Myers into an early save on a dangerous set piece delivered by Diego Silva in the 15th minute. The ball was hit with pace from 30 yards away was deflected out of play at the near post for a corner kick. On the ensuing corner kick, a ball delivered into the box was headed just over the bar by Tyrone Rodriguez.
Greeneville managed some possession for the next five minutes where the Greene Devils broke the ice. David Fisher played a ball to Austin Beets who gathered the pass at the top of the box in the 19th minute, beat two defenders, and delivered a perfectly placed ball off his left foot to the far post past a diving Bradley Gouge for the games’ first goal.
The lead was short lived as Crockett’s Silva gathered a 50-50 ball in the Greeneville box, felt contact, and went to ground, earning a penalty kick. In the 21st minute, Silva did not miss his opportunity getting Myers to dive the wrong way to level the score at 1-1.
From that point on in the first half Greeneville carried much of the play and just six minutes later, Fisher was again involved with delivering another pass, this time to Jude Dyer, who did not miss his moment in the 27th minute and lifted a shot to the far left post from the right side of the pitch at the 10 yard marker to break the tie and make the game 2-1. Crockett did create some dangerous opportunities in the final minutes of the half forcing Myers into four saves.
The game came to a halt as senior, center back, Brandon Rogers leaped into the air to head a ball away from Rodriguez, he landed awkwardly and suffered a gruesome leg injury. The game was delayed for 37 minutes as Rogers had to be stretchered off the field by emergency personnel. After play resumed, Crockett created those chances but were denied by Myers.
As Greeneville opened the second half with a 2-1 lead, the Pioneers were more aggressive and carried all of the play in the opening 15 minutes of the half. The Pioneers possessed, but could never manage shots as the Greene Devil back line, led by Liam Polte, Griffin Gricunas, Riqui Torres, and Connor Stayton only allowed four shots in the second half and only one of those forced Myers to make a save. The most dangerous opportunity came off a corner kick for the Pioneers as the ball came across the goal, Silva was unmarked, but his header sailed over the bar for a goal kick.
The game became quite aggressive with several stoppages for cautions in the second half. A total of seven cautions were shown in the game and five of those occurred in the second half. Greeneville did begin to create several opportunities in the final stages, creating six shots on target and one of those found the back of the net. In the 72nd minute, Brody Inscore settled a pass and crossed the ball to Samuel Gourley. Gourley dribbled around a defender toward the end line and delivered a low, driven cross across the goal mouth to a waiting Inscore who tapped in the pass for the 3-1 lead. The decisive blow in the game.
Greeneville managed 19 shots, 12 on goal and David Crockett had 12 shots, 5 on frame. Myers had 4 saves and Gouge had 9 for the Pioneers. There were 28 fouls called in the game, 17 of those on the Pioneers.
The win gives Greeneville their 3rd straight Region Title and the program’s 12th overall and all of those earned in the last 13 years. Greeneville will play the 2021 State Champion, Austin-East at Burley Stadium on Saturday with kickoff at 4pm. Listen to the broadcast of the game on 95.5FM, WSMG.
