Marshall County Tribune: High School Sports: Banner season comes to a close for Tigers (05/19/10)

Marshall County goalie Ashton Darnell comes out to secure the ball in a crowd in the first half, but the Tigers fell 6-0 at Fairview in the Region 6A/AA Tournament semifinal. Tribune photos by Anthony S. Puca

The most successful season in the history of the MCHS boys' soccer program came to a close Tuesday night in a 6-0 loss at Fairview in the Region 6-A/AA tournament semifinal.

The Tigers (10-2-1) finished as regular season District 11-A/AA champions, district tournament runners-up, and the region appearance was their first since 2001-2002.

Coach Lisa Raffo's talented squad is still a young one with 8 juniors, 4 sophomores, and 3 freshmen returning next year.

Luke Worthy (8) makes a run as Fairview goalie David Higgins snatches up the ball.

The Tigers will lose the great leadership and outstanding soccer skills from seniors Carlos Galvin, Christian Ibarra, Mariano Vega, and Luke Worthy as they all graduate.

The Tigers fell behind early at Fairview when Ben Mazere took a pass from Tyler Emler and booted the sphere into the Tiger net five minutes into the contest.

The Yellow Jackets (19-1) have now won ten in a row and sport an experienced squad of 11 seniors, displaying a potent offense to go along with a stout defense that has allowed nine goals all season and four of those came in their only loss of the year to Station Camp 4-0.

The Tigers had limited scoring opportunities in the first half with their best chances coming on a near miss from Ryan Longchamps and moments later when Jonathan Salinas' header attempt went just high over the crossbar.

Emler made it 2-0 Fairview when he broke free for a score after taking a pass from Paul Grayson.

MCHS's Ibarra came within a whisker of cutting the lead to just one goal midway through the half, but a great save by Fairview goalie David Higgins thwarted the attempt.

MCHS's Ryan Longchamps calls the play before a second half throw-in.

The Tigers would put pressure on Fairview over the next several minutes as Ibarra began to work the middle.

With just over six minutes left in the half, Ibarra rifled a shot that headed toward the net but began to spin right where a sliding Luke Worthy almost nicked it in.

The half was winding down when Emler made it 3-0, taking a pass from Caleb Cox for the score.

MCHS sophomore Brad Pippin (21) gets the header off of a Luke Worthy corner kick, but Fairview defender Jared Hill (15) and goalie David Higgins move in for the stop.

The Tigers were still charged up in the second half, almost making it 3-1 on a header by Brad Pippin off of a Worthy corner kick, but Higgins came out to save the goal.

Marshall County did not give in, but goals by Fairview's Cox, Caleb Duke, and Wayne Jaworski accounted for the 6-0 shut-out.

Fairview moves on to the region final on Thursday, hosting District 11-A/AA champion Page (7-7-3), who defeated Columbia Academy 4-0 in the other region semifinal.