Hannah Styles
hstyles@thesmokymountaintimes.com
On Monday night, Swain took on the Queens Grant Stallions for the first playoff game of the season. The game, held at Swain, started off as a nail-biter and stayed every bit as exciting all the way to the last few seconds of the game.
The Devils battled the Stallions running back and forth on the field, as Swain brought the ball toward their goal, Queens Grant would steal it and kick back toward their goal, then Swain would steal it and this describes most of the first half.
It wasn’t until the last five seconds of the first half when Landon Matz snuck one into the goal for the first score of the evening.
After half time, the Devils came back as strong as ever, with nonstop action on the field, until Landon Matz ran the ball all the way down the field to score another goal for Swain bringing the score to 2-0. About another 10 minutes later Matthew Gray ran the ball in for another score for Swain.
There were lots of fouls called on both teams, but it seemed that the referee called more fouls on Swain, since the opposing team would dramatically fall over after a steal. Swain’s players were fouled several times, like when Landon Matz was almost turned for a loop and jumped right back up, no foul called. Matthew Gray had an injury during the last half and took a knee to substitute another player but the referee didn’t seem to notice even with the fans screaming so Matthew Gray got up limping and continued to fight for the ball. There’s no doubt that all of Swain’s players gave 110%.
Devils defenders Levi Trantham, Canon Helpman, Brendan Lanning, did an exceptional job preventing the Stallions from scoring and goal keeper Cameron Phillips blocked several goals during the game. Other stand out players were Owen Craig, Taligo Walker, Clayton Shuler, Spencer Rowland, and Gavin Rowland. Really all of Swain’s players should be noted because the team fought hard for this 3-0 win.
The Devil’s next playoff game was at Mountain Heritage, Wednesday night but results were not available at the time of printing.