Maroon Devils soccer season kicks off on a cold, wet day

The Maroon Devils Men’s Soccer Team kicked off their regular season on Wednesday, Jan. 27 hosting the Franklin Panthers in non-conference action. It was the season opener for both teams.

Swain would get on the board first as senior Zachary Cline would find junior Gavin Lanning running down the left wing scoring a left footed goal early in the game. It would not take Franklin long to answer as they would sneak a goal in between Swain’s keeper and the post. At this point the rain came and the Devils would play the rest of the game in the rain.

Later in the first half, the Panthers would score once more utilizing their speed to break through the back line of the Devils. The first half would end with the Panthers up 2-1.

In a very wet second half, the Devils would commit a foul just outside the box, which gave the Panthers a free kick from the spot of the foul. The Panthers would convert the kick into a goal. The game would finish with the Panthers taking the 3-1 win.

“We definitely played the talented Panther team tough. A few small errors cost us the game, but all things we can improve on to get us ready for conference play,” said head coach Scott Cline. “We have been practicing in masks, but it was a new experience to try to breathe through water soaked masks. We had to use our mask breaks to replace masks.”

On defense, senior Booth Bassett led the way with 8 clears/steals, followed by junior Lucas Trantham with 5, and senior Anthony Reyes and junior Levi Trantham each with 4. In goal, junior Noel Wolf had 14 saves.

The Player of the Game for the Devils was junior Gavin Lanning.

“Gavin played an exceptional game for us. For me it came down more to his play on the field than it did him even scoring a goal,” said Cline. “Gavin was very aggressive, and he played his position well throughout the game.”

The game against Smoky Mountain on Monday was cancelled due to snow. The team hosted Murphy Wednesday at 4 p.m. (after press time.)