Midway’s Luis Florido fires a shot on a PK early in the game.
Daron Barefoot|Sampson Independent
Midway’s Carson Cain slides in and knocks the ball away from Clinton’s Melvin Cruz.
Daron Barefoot|Sampson Independent
Holden Spell places a shot on goal.
Daron Barefoot|Sampson Independent
After a lengthy weather delay at Midway High School Monday night, the Raiders and the Dark Horses were able to hit the field for their first matchup of the season. Despite both teams playing equally hard and seemingly being evenly matched, it was Clinton that pitched a shutout and earned a 4-0 victory.
As a hard rain fell at the beginning of the game, Midway established an early opportunity after drawing a quick penalty for a PK. Dark Horses goalkeeper Luis Bartolome scooped up the kick, though, leaving the score at 0-0.
Both teams had a smattering of chances early as the action swung from one end of the field to the other and the score remained frozen at 0-0.
Then, with 23:31 on the clock, Clinton crashed the goal off of a failed clearing of a throw-in. With the ball pinballing in front of the Raiders goal, it was Oskar Adasiak that cleaned things up to put the Dark Horses up 1-0.
After that, Luis Florido got a shot on goal for Midway, but the ball sailed high above the goal to preserve the Dark Horses 1-0.
Then, a yellow card against Adasiak yielded another PK for the Raiders, but the shot again sailed high and the score stayed 1-0. The action continued to pendulum from one end of the field to the other and Clinton earned a corner kick. The try was unsuccessful, though, and as the clock continued to wind, the score held at 1-0.
Then, with less than a minute to go in the first half, the Dark Horses earned another corner, which was converted by Adasiak for his second goal of the game.
At halftime, 2-0 was the tally as the teams broke for intermission.
When play resumed, tension picked up as Midway was fighting to stay in contention. For the most part, though, the Raiders were stuck playing defense and unable to generate any scoring chances. A PK at the 24:30 mark was their best chance of the half but a header from a Dark Horses player cleared the ball out and shut down the chance.
With the clock on the move, the Dark Horses added another goal to put more space between them and Midway. This time, with 16:07 left, it was Griffin Williams that struck, pushing the tally to 3-0.
Then at 10:42, J.J. Najera crashed the goal from the left side and cleaned up a rebound. He gained control of a loose ball off the hands of Midway goalkeeper Keller Godwin and stuck it back in to make the score 4-0.
That’s how the game ended as the Dark Horses took the first game in the rivalry this season and won their conference-opener.
“Good to get our first conference win out of the way,” said Clinton head coach Brad Spell. “Midway really tested us tonight. They had a very smart game plan and we did what we needed to do to get the victory.”
On the other sideline, Raiders head coach Russ Warren said: “Both teams played a hard fought rivalry game with both teams leaving it out on the field. They capitalized on their opportunities and we didn’t. They are well-coached. But, I’m proud of my guys for fighting hard through injuries and sickness.”
With the win, Clinton is now 12-1 on the season and 1-0 in conference play. They will host West Bladen Wednesday before concluding their week at North Lenoir on Thursday.
Midway is now 8-3 on the season and 0-1 in league play. They will wrap up their week Thursday at Triton.