By Tyler Nichols
Chuckey-Doak stepped onto the pitch for one of their most important games of the season and hung around with a very talented Pigeon Forge team before letting the second half slip away and suffered a 6-1 loss on Tuesday night.
For 53 minutes, both teams played an evenly matched game, not just on the scoreboard, but in terms of possession too. Each team netted a goal in the first half and the hunt for who could score the next goal looked to prove who the eventual winner would be.
In the end Pigeon Forge’s subs and Chuckey-Doak’s fatigue came into play and the Tigers pulled away late with five goals in the final 27 minutes.
“They played probably their best game of the season. We had some opportunities, but unfortunately, we didn’t score more than one,” Chuckey-Doak coach Steven Neesen stated. “They had a lot of quality subs and it made a big difference. Overall, I was very proud of them.”
The loss brings Chuckey-Doak’s District 1-1A record to 1-1. Their previous win was an 8-0 win over Cosby a week prior. Their overall record fell to 1-3-2.
Chuckey-Doak went on the attack early and tried striking first. Ryland Grindstaff received a beautiful cross from Dominic Hahnlen, but couldn’t put the shot attempt away in the 5th minute. A free kick and corner kick in the 9th minute presented another opportunity, but both attempts failed.
Dominic Hahnlen made a charge towards the net and seemed to score in the 19th minute before the side judge ruled he was offsides and negated the goal.
The momentum shifted significantly only a minute later when Darwin Garcia scored a point-blank goal off Gannon Cogdell’s deflection. The Tigers took a 1-0 lead.
Chuckey-Doak stayed on their heels for a huge chunk of the remaining minutes in the half. Cogdell made a pair of impressive saves in the 30th and 35th minutes to keep the margin slim.
The Black Knights found another opportunity to score in the 37th minute and made the most of it. Pablo Dimas delivered a corner kick and Dominic Hahnlen connected on the other end with a header for a goal.
“We practice on that quite a bit. That was a well-studied corner kick. We tried to use our height and it worked out great,” Coach Neesen mentioned.
Chuckey-Doak tied it 1-1 entering halftime.
“I thought that was our best first half and first 15 minutes of the second half. We just ran out of steam,” Coach Neesen explained.
Pigeon Forge went on the attack to start the second half and took multiple shot attempts in the early quarter. Cogdell made a jumping save and diving save in the 50th and 51st minute to keep the score knotted for the moment. The game would start to get away from Chuckey-Doak soon after.
A free kick was awarded to the Tigers and Yonathan Valdez netted a 24-yarder to send Pigeon Forge ahead 2-1.
Darwin Garcia came back for his second goal in the 64th minute with a long-range shot from outside of the box. Alex Aguilar wasted no time giving Pigeon Forge a larger lead with a bullet from around 30 yards out less than a minute later. The Tigers took a 4-1 lead.
Aguilar struck again from outside the box and put Pigeon Forge ahead 5-1 in the 70th minute.
Valdez pulled off a nifty move on the baseline to keep the ball inbounds and tossed it to the back of the net, but was called for a foal and the goal was negated. Three minutes later he fired away with his second goal of the contest and extended Pigeon Forge’s lead 6-1 in the 75th.
That’s where the final score sat and Chuckey-Doak dropped one to Pigeon Forge by the final of 6-1.
Dominic Hahnlen had the Black Knights’ lone goal.
Yonathan Valdez, Darwin Garcia, and Alex Aguilar scored two goals each for Pigeon Forge.
Chuckey-Doak travels to play Daniel Boone at 6:00 on Thursday afternoon. That game will be a part of the Blue Ridge Classic at Providence Academy.
