For nearly 60 minutes of Tuesday’s 5th District soccer championship match, Trigg County and Lyon County were a play away from the district title swaying in either direction.
Ahead 1-0, Trigg County scored two goals in a four-minute span to lift a cloud of frustration on their way to a 4-1 win over the Lyons and secure their third straight district title.
Trigg County outshot Lyon 10-1 in the first half but managed only a 1-0 lead when James Garnett headed in a Nate Kelly corner kick eight minutes into the match.
The match featured sterling goalie play from Lyon County’s Justin Hicks and Trigg County’s Cam McCormick. The Wildcat goalie was voted the District Player of the Year after he and the Wildcat defense allowed one goal or less for the 11th time this season.
Hicks made 10 first-half saves for the Lyons, while McCormick made eight in the second half for the Wildcats.
Corben Woodall’s cross to Jenson Nolte with 21:29 left gave the Wildcats some breathing room at 2-0.
Carsen Gresham found Matthew Choate four minutes later for a 3-0 Wildcat lead.
Nolte chipped in a shot with three minutes left for his second goal of the match and 11th of the season.
Lyon County got on the board in the 79th minute when Boston Mullen banged home a deep shot for his fifth goal of the season.
Trigg County owned a 23-10 advantage in shots in winning its seventh straight match against the Lyons.
The district title is the seventh in the last eight seasons for Trigg County and 15th overall.
Crittenden County, the boys’ tournament hosts for the first time, worked throughout the day Tuesday to get the field playable after nearly three inches of rain fell earlier in the day. It was a soggy track that made through balls tough to play.
Tuesday marked the first time since 2010 that Trigg County played a district title match on a neutral field. Trigg defeated Caldwell County at Dawson Springs’ Tradewater Park for the title that season.
Lyon County last played a district championship match on a neutral field in 2005 when they beat Caldwell County at Trigg County.
Both Trigg and Lyon County will advance to next week’s region tournament at Henderson County, with dates and times to be announced in the coming days.
