The Trigg County and Lyon County boys’ soccer teams have grown quite familiar with one another, and as the old adage goes, familiarity breeds contempt. The Wildcats and Lyons played out a physical, chippy 80 minutes in the 5th District championship on Monday in Cadiz with Trigg prevailing 2-0.
The Wildcats bring the trophy back to Cadiz after Lyon County snapped a 7-year Trigg title streak last season, and improve to 12-5-1 on the year. Lyon County will enter next week’s 2nd Region tournament in Madisonville at 2-17-1 overall.
The Wildcats’ third win of the season over the Lyons would prove the most difficult, as the game was scoreless at the half. Trigg finally broke through with 22 minutes to play when Daniel Martin pounced on a loose ball and found the back of the net past Lyon goalkeeper Justin Tabor.
Inside of the final 5 minutes, Trigg’s Daniel Jimenez drew a foul in the box to earn a penalty kick. Martin’s attempt was saved by Tabor, but Elijah Gaines was on hand to steer home the rebound to seal the 2-0 victory. Lyon County’s coaches felt Tabor was fouled on the rebounds, but the goal stood.
Wildcat goalkeeper Matthew Smith made 1 save in goal to earn the shutout, while Tabor saved 8 of the 10 shots he saw for the Lyons.
Trigg and Lyon will have the rest of the week off, before finding out their next opponents at the regional draw on Friday morning at Madisonville-North Hopkins, site of next week’s Second Region Tournament.