Heading into Wednesday night’s soccer match against East Central foe Richlands Wildcats, the second place Dark Horses controlled their own destiny and sealed the second place position with a win; however, it all seemed to be slipping away by halftime.

But the feisty Dark Horses rallied in the second half with three goals, beating the Wildcats 3-1 at Richlands High School.

Scores from the game came in right at deadline Wednesday night.

The first half of play was a defensive battle with both teams having opportunities to score only to be rebuffed by well-organized and aggressive defenses. In the 35th minute, Wildcat forward Pat Bell broke from the pack and put teammate Matt McDougal’s pass into the net for the half’s only score.

Down by a goal, the Dark Horses came onto the field in the second half ready to prove they belonged at the top of the competitive conference. Their efforts paid dividends when, in the 52nd minute of play, freshman Hector Regalado took a pass from Hector Acosta and put in Clinton’s first goal of the game.

The Dark Horses continued the momentum after a Wildcat foul on senior captain Field Palmer which resulted in a penalty kick for Palmer and his 17th goal of the season, leading the team with Jose Gallegos, putting the Dark Horses up 2-1.

The final score came on a broken play in front of the Wildcat goal when freshman forward Juan Alvarado solidly sent the ball to the far post, sealing the win for Clinton.

“As competitive as this conference is, we could very well have gone from second to sixth tonight,” stated assistant coach Manuel Ordaz. “Now we just have to take care of business Monday night against South Lenoir and Wednesday night versus Swansboro.”

“Junior goalie Blake Ellis came up big tonight,” said assistant coach Jamie Williams. “Blake had eight saves tonight, five of which were quality shots so he definitely kept us in the game.”

With an overall record of 16-4-1 with two games to play, the Horses thus far have outdone almost 25 years of soccer history at Clinton High having already surpassed the best regular season record of any soccer team CHS has fielded.

An 8-3-1 conference record is nothing to scoff at either in what’s considered by most to be the most challenging 2A conference in the state, the coaches said.

“The best we’ve ever finished in this conference,” stated head coach Brad Spell, “was last year’s fourth place finish where we went 7-6-1.” “We are thrilled to be competing at this level, and we surely don’t take it for granted. Every match has been a challenge and our guys have truly stepped up to the challenge.”

The Dark Horses host South Lenoir Monday night at 6 p.m. This will be their final regular season match at Dark Horse Stadium where they will be honoring their seniors with senior night festivities.