GATLINBURG — The number one ranked team and number two ranked team in Class A met one another on the pitch on Monday, April 21, as the Gatlinburg-Pittman Highlanders played host to the Pigeon Forge Tigers. In the first of a potential four meetings of the “Battle of the Tunnel,” it was the Highlanders who came out on top, 3-1.
The Tigers and Highlanders met one another in the regular season, district final, and region final one year ago. Adding in the chance of both teams making an appearance in the Class A State Tournament, Monday night was the first of a possible four meetings between the two teams.
With a potential three more meetings ahead, Highlanders’ Head Coach Zach Schrandt said it was big to come away with the win, taking down their rivals to secure the top seed in the district.
“It means something to me, my dad was principal there, I played under [Tigers’ Head Coach Bill Moseley],” Schrandt said. “When I started as head coach, we hadn’t beaten Pigeon Forge in like a decade, and now we haven’t lost to them in about that long.”
“We don’t want to give away our dominance over them. Obviously it’s very hard to beat them three, maybe four times,” he said. “For 40 minutes, they were the better team, they were all over us. Credit to them.”
The Highlanders were led by a pair of goals from Carlos Turcios Reyes, with Brody Cravens adding a goal of his own.
Schrandt said the goals from Turcios Reyes came from the matchups they were looking for, moving him from the wing to the inside forward position.
“We moved Carlos inside to the nine,” he said. “We thought they’d be kind of used to seeing him out on the wing.”
Turcios Reyes’ move to the middle proved to pay off early on in this one as just eight minutes into the contest, the forward’s breakaway through the middle of the field resulted in a goal, giving the Highlanders a 1-0 lead.
G-P had another big chance minutes later, with Pigeon Forge’s Andrew Cedeno coming away with a pair of big saves in the net for the Tigers.
The last 20 minutes of the opening half saw Pigeon Forge dictating the pace of play, applying pressure to the Highlanders’ back line, and nearly finding the equalizer.
Gatlinburg-Pittman’s Jeffry Valladares came away with saves of his own to keep a clean sheet through the first half, sending the game into halftime with the Highlanders in front 1-0.
The Tigers continued their pressure throughout the opening minutes of the second half, with Alex Aguilar eventually making his way into the box, firing a shot into the back of the net to even the score at 1-1.
However, it wouldn’t take long for the Highlanders to regain the lead as just minutes later a shot from Eli Colbert ricocheted back to the feet of Cravens, who sent the ball into the net for the go-ahead goal, putting G-P back in front at 2-1.
Martin Moradel nearly evened the score with a free kick later in the second half, with the ball flying just over the top of the net to keep the score at 2-1.
Turcios Reyes put the nail in the coffin in this one as he came away with another breakaway for a goal in the 76th minute, putting the Highlanders ahead 3-1, where the score remained as the final buzzer sounded.
While the Highlanders typically play their brand of soccer, Schrandt said coming away with the win in this one was due in part to changing the way they play, moving the ball down the field more directly, and trying to keep Pigeon Forge’s playmakers at bay.
“We didn’t want to give the ball up in the back. Their front five are really phenomenal individually,” he said. “So, we just kind of felt like, don’t give it away there, play a little more direct, and see if our elite players can do something.”
The Highlanders move to 7-4-1 on the season, and secure the top seed in District 1-A with the win. G-P will be back in action on Thursday, April 24, as they travel to South Carolina to take on nationally ranked Bluffton.
For the Tigers, they move to 9-4-1 on the year, sitting as the second seed in District 1-A. The Tigers will be back in action on Thursday, May 1, as they play host to Powell High School.
