SPORTS

Lexington gets another shot at Chester

Josh Lemons
The Jackson Sun

DYERSBURG – The Lexington High girls’ soccer team has an opportunity not many athletes have in a season: A chance at vindication.

The Lady Tigers knocked off Dyersburg 1-0 Tuesday night in the Region 7 A-AA semifinals and thanks to a 6-1 Chester County win over Westview, Lexington has a chance to erase the only blemish on what would have been a perfect season as the Eaglettes won the District 14 A-AA title over the Lady Tigers last week.

Lexington head coach Kirk Childers said although he would have liked to have brought the district title back to Henderson, he think the team needed a loss to show they have to play perfect for 80 minutes if they want to make it to the state tournament in Murfreesboro.

“To be honest, we needed that,” Childers said. “We really came in that game [against Chester County] overconfident.

“They were coming off a 6-1 win against them earlier in the season, thinking it was going to be like that again [and they] didn’t even put in the effort to do that.”

Childers said he was happy with how his team responded after taking their first loss of the season.

“They came out here and they were excited about this game, they were ready, they had a little edge about them [and] they were confident,” Childers said. “They showed it.

“They didn’t just come out and talk it. They showed it, and that was the difference.”

The confidence did show as the Lady Tigers spent the majority of the game on the Lady Trojans’ side of the pitch, outshooting Dyersburg 5-1 in the first half but were unable to come up with a point after the first 40 minutes.

But for as aggressive as Lexington played in the first half, it increased the intensity even more in the second half.

As much has been made about the senior leadership on the Lady Tigers’ squad, it was freshman Chandler Holmes that came up with the lone goal of the match in the 44th minute.

Holmes said when she realized she had beaten all of the Lady Trojan defenders to the ball, she knew she had to make the most of the opportunity.

“I just thought, ‘I’ve got to score this for our team,’” Holmes said. “We need this to move on in the region.”

Senior captain Micah Blundell said the freshmen on the squad have come up big for the Lady Tigers all season.

“They impacted our season a lot, and I’m very thankful for them to come in and do that,” Blundell said.

Blundell said she is glad that her senior season is extended after the win Tuesday night and said she has to admit getting a chance to knock off the only team that beat them this season makes the win even sweeter.

“We did not play our best [against Chester County], but that loss gave us something to look forward to,” Blundell said. “We’re ready now.”

Josh Lemons, 425-9636