Geo Pacheco Celebrates after scoring against McMinn on Thursday, 4/16/26.(Photo:MindySmithByrd)

Even with the threat of a storm, the wind and warm weather felt amazing for a Thursday night matchup at home for the Eagles vs. McMinn. The JV game was cancelled by McMinn, so the Varsity took the field at 7pm. The Eagles controlled the ball effortlessly, with great passing, give & go runs, through balls, overlaps, and crosses that allowed the team to move the ball well throughout the pitch to dominate the game. Within the first 10 minutes, Ian Arnold  ran a ball down the sideline, crossed it into the middle of the goal, where Geo Pacheco was near side of the goal with defenders on him but Adrian Juan was wide open, far side of the goal. Geo 1-touched it to Adrian, who tapped it in, Eagles up 1-0. While the Eagles continued to dominate the play of the game, most of their shots went straight or near the McMinn goalie, so they didn’t add another goal the first half. McMinn received a direct kick right outside the 18 and almost slotted it in the far side of the net, but goalie Sam Rasnake made a diving, deflection save, and kept them scoreless, halftime score of 1-0. The second half saw more of the same action from the Eagles, with beautiful control and passing that kept them putting more pressure on the net with shots. Within the first 4 minutes, Pacheco collected a ball, drove it down to the corner of the field and crossed it back into the middle of the 6 box, where the ball bounced around between 2 McMinn defenders and Sawyer Campbell & Adrian Juan before deflecting across the goal line where Jackson Arnold and the McMinn goalie both dove in to try to contact the ball. J. Arnold’s diving toe poke of the cleat landed on the ball first, and the ball went under the goalie’s diving leap, Eagles up 2-0! The Eagles added a 3rd goal, with a through ball fed by Pacheco up top, where J. Arnold ran from behind the defenders to collect and line drive a ball into the back of the net around the 25 yard line. Unfortunately, the AR was not in the correct position, and called Arnold off-sides, so the goal was recalled. Less than 1 minute later though, Pacheco collected a ball inside of the 18 box, which he dribbled around 4 defenders into the 6 box and planted it neatly past the goalie, who came out to rush him too, Eagles up 3-0. With the Eagles firmly in the lead, the JV team was subbed onto the field with 4 minutes left to get some time since their game was cancelled. Although 1 goal was able to sneak by to get McMinn on the board, the boys collected their composure and held their drives off to end the game in a 3-1 win. Eagle's District record is now 3-0-2.

The Eagles travel to Cleveland on Monday, April 20th, for JV kick off of 5:30pm and Varsity at 7:15pm, where the winner of this game will determine the #1 seed of the district between the 2 teams. Senior Night Recognition will be held on Thursday, April 23rd, vs. Soddy Daisy- JV-5pm/ V-7pm.

Article by Audrey Norman