Griffin soccer players Slade Bailey (7) and Tristen Mathis (12) line up during their match against Eagle's Landing Tuesday night at Memorial Stadium. Mathis scored two goals in the Bears' 6-3 loss. (John Sullivan/Daily News)
Griffin lost its third straight match to fall to 1-6 overall and 0-4 in region play while ELHS remains undefeated at 3-0, 3-0.
There was no score halfway through the first 40 minutes when the tide turned for Griffin. Bears forward Brandon King and EL’s Mikee Marcelin were chasing a ball at the 26:42 mark of the half and they tussled with each other trying to reach it before it went out of bounds. The two then got into a heated exchange and had to be separated by teammates. The referees stepped in and gave a yellow card to Marcelin and a red card to King.
“The refs said that Brandon was the more aggressive of the two and looked to start fighting more than the EL player — that’s why he got the red card,” said Griffin head coach Derrick Jackson.
The red card for King meant he was disqualified for the rest of the EL match (leaving Griffin one player short) and he also has to sit out tonight’s home match against region foe Locust Grove.
The exchange seemed to spark the Golden Eagles. A minute after the fracas, Oscar Hernandez scored a goal to give EL the 1-0 lead, which stayed that way at halftime.
Griffin’s Tyler Peavy and Tristen Mathis had opportunities to score before the first half ended, but they couldn’t connect for a goal.
It was all EL, all the time in the second half. Stevenson scored two goals in 15 seconds early in the half to give EL the 3-0 lead and Taffe scored his first goal a minute later to push the EL lead to 4-0.
Mathis scored Griffin’s first goal at the 27:00 mark, a nice shot from the left hash to cut the lead to 4-1 and the Bears seemed poised to make a comeback. EL dashed those hopes as Taffe completed his hat trick, scoring two consecutive goals to ice the match at 6-1.
Jake McDaniel scored for Griffin with 3:13 remaining to cut the lead to 6-2 and Mathis’ second goal two minutes later made the final margin 6-3.
The Bears will try to end their losing streak tonight at 7:30 p.m. against Locust Grove at Memorial Stadium.
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