Polk County’s boys soccer squad completed a season sweep of Hendersonville and swept itself into the Western Highlands Conference lead in the process.
The Wolverines topped the Bearcats 4-3 Monday in a matchup of WHC co-leaders at Polk County Middle School. The victory pushes Polk into the driver’s seat in the race for a conference title, the Wolverines now a game ahead of Hendersonville and owning the head-to-head tiebreaker over the Bearcats.
Polk County next hosts Madison on Wednesday, Mountain Heritage on Thursday for Senior Night and then goes to Madison on Monday. Wins in each of those games will give Polk County at least a share of the WHC regular-season title and will assure the Wolverines of the league’s top seed in the 2A playoffs.
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Remaining after that will likely be a penalty-kick shootout with Owen, the conclusion of the Sept. 21 match between the two teams. With the score tied 2-2 at the end of overtime, match referees declared a tie and left the field rather than hold penalty kicks. Polk County head coach Lennox Charles said Monday that the teams would likely return to Polk County Middle before the start of the 2A playoffs just for penalty kicks to decide that game, though final details are still being worked out. That shootout could mean the difference in an outright WHC title for Polk and sharing the crown as co-champions with Hendersonville.
None of that mattered Monday to the Wolverines (11-4, 7-1), a win over the rival Bearcats (13-6, 9-2) cause for celebration.
“I watched some of Hendersonville’s match with Owen, and after seeing them, to me, Hendersonville may be the best team in the conference. But we match up with them better than we do Owen,” Charles said. “Our style is similar to what they want to do. We both primarily want to get the ball to our main guy (Matthew Mel for Hendersonville, Wil Rimer for Polk County).
“Coach (Will) Pack said before the Owen game (last week’s 3-2 loss) that the players were laughing during warmups and maybe weren’t as focused as they should be. I heard the seniors telling the other players before the match (Monday) that during warmups, no one was going to be laughing. I don’t have to say anything when we play Hendersonville.”
Monday’s match couldn’t have started any better for Polk County as ninety seconds in, the Wolverines took a 1-0 lead. Ewan Pratt played a long ball down the right side, allowing Rimer to race past a Hendersonville defender and gain possession in the corner. Rimer’s cross from there found Isaias Akers open in front of the net, and Akers drilled home the match’s opening goal.
Polk County then struck again with 27:13 left in the half, Rimer taking possession on the left wing, dribbling into the corner, down the end line and back toward the center of the field before curling a shot into the right back corner of the net for a 2-0 lead. The Wolverines then peppered the net with several chances over the next few minutes, but couldn’t get another goal, which Charles worried would come back to haunt the team.
“I told them after the game that if we get a chance to really step on them and put them away, we have to take advantage,” Charles said. “I felt like at that point with their confidence, that if we got a third goal, they would really put their heads down. But we didn’t and they came back.”
Indeed, the Bearcats did. Tanner Gilliam scored off a long free kick with 13:51 left in the half before Mel evened the match with 2:53 remaining, leaving the teams tied at the intermission.
The Wolverines would again break out to a two-goal lead in the second half. With 26:43 left in regulation, Rimer raced ahead for a long, high kick from Garrett Weicker. Battling two defenders, Rimer managed to work free long enough to push his 27th goal of the season into the right corner of the net, giving the Wolverines a 3-2 lead.
Polk preserved that edge until 12:40 remained, when Rimer drew a foul in the penalty area. Jeremy Allsbrook took the free kick and calmly buried the shot just inside the left post, upping Polk’s lead to 4-2.
That penalty would prove the difference as Mel scored with two minutes remaining, cutting the Polk lead to one. The Wolverines, though, would prevent Hendersonville from getting a good look at goal until the final whistle.
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