Two times this season the Panthers faced the Cougars and both games ended in a draw, the most recent ending the regular season last Thursday night.
This time a Russellville victory was the end result.
The Panthers lined up with John Starks, Craig Sanko, Will Stuart, Jacob Allen, Sam Corbin, Ben Kees, Nathan Sindorf, Cory Corder, Charleston Sydnor, Cameron Blythe, and goalie Jonathan ‘Woodie' White taking the pitch at the start of the match.
Grayson County wasted no time attempting an offensive strike with a high lofty cross from the sideline that floated out of bounds less than a minute into the game.
The Panthers found the back of the net early, just 5:51 minutes into the contest, when John Starks dribbled in front of the box and fired a hard shot that was deflected by the Cougar goalie. Sam Corbin was in position to flick the ball past the out-of-position Grayson goalie into the goal.
Cameron Blythe followed up several minutes later taking a shot that was deflected by the defenders and Russellville continued to show some heavy pressure towards the visiting team.
The Cougars sporadically challenged the Panthers, but Russellville's defensive play from Charleston Sydnor and Nathan Sindorf kept the visiting squad from getting a clear chance at a score.
Russellville continued to pressure Grayson County with shots from Will Stuart, Starks, and Cory Corder, but none were able to make a successful attempt at the net.
”Their goal keeper is very good and has a very strong leg. They used him really well,“ head coach Tom Thompson commented on Grayson's ability to stop many of the Panthers' offensive attacks.
With 14:45 left in the first half the visitors equalized the match, 1-1. White came out of the goal after a high bouncing kick, but a Cougar forward was able to get a head on the ball first, flicking it to an oncoming winger who put the ball into the goal.
Starks wasted no time rebounding the momentum of the match, scoring just 45 seconds later and putting the Panthers back on top 2-1.
The Panthers took several more shots including a high hard shot from Craig Sanko, but the home team's defense finished the half strong maintaining a 2-1 lead.
Corbin entered the second half as goalie and got an early challenge as Russellville couldn't get the second half started out as well as the first ended. Starks made a nasty challenge in the home teams' penalty box giving Grayson County a penalty shot that was easily converted to even the score once more, 2-2.
Grayson County continued to find their game, getting several good challenges, but the outstanding defense of Russellville kept the visitors from scoring again
The Panthers regrouped and became the aggressive bunch that started the game. With 9:00 left in the game, Sindorf outplayed a defender, dribbled 40 yards up side of field, took the ball to the center of the field and took a hard low shot that snuck just inside of the goal post to bring the Panthers up 3-2.
Grayson County attempted to mount an offensive attack, but couldn't get a serious look at the goal through the end of the game.
”I really enjoyed today's game; both teams played really hard,“ coach Thompson said. ”We worked particularly hard in the first half and in the last 25 minutes we had a number of offensive thrusts. I thought the guys played well offensively and defensively, just played a real complete game.“
”It's good to get that first win in the district,“ Thompson commented about advancing to play Franklin-Simpson in the semifinals. ”They're a tough a team and we are going to have play them much better defensively and mark them extremely well because they are a good offensive team.“
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