TKA downs Eagles in Battle of the Burb

Both TKA and Seymour limped in to the Battle of the Burb Thursday night at Benton Householder Field. The King’s Academy had been outmanned by William Blount and taken the program’s first loss to Pigeon Forge after a 3-0 start. The Eagles were still shaking off a two-game shooting slump that has left them outscored 13 –1 in games against William Blount and Gibbs. The Lions found their touch, to right itself and get a much needed confidence boost with a 6-2 win over the homestanding Eagles. Seymour appeared to have answered its aggressiveness problems, battling close with TKA in the first half. Lion’s striker Keita Ochi netted two goals on assists from JooMin Kim. Junior Jessie Oakes answered for SHS on an assist from midfielder Grant Scalf. The King’s Academy led 2-1 at half under Coach Paul Mobley’s revamped offense. Seymour was optimistic, planning on using their reserves as a second half advantage against the undermanned Lions who had only two subs available for the game. Things went the TKA way in second. Unassisted goals by Kim and Ochi put Seymour down 4-1. Seymour Coach Chris McCarty had told his team, “You will win when you really want it.” The Eagles aggressive attack faded and TKA took advantage for two Oh goals, the first by Danny Oh and the second by Tim Oh. Seymour managed to work itself back up in the closing minutes, resulting in a goal with a minute left. A reverse of their first half goal, Scalf scored on an assist from Oakes to end the game 6-2. Coach Mobley was proud of his team, “We found our intensity, and they really stepped it up in the second half.” Looking towards the tough schedule awaiting the Lions, “We played better tonight, but we’re not where we need to be yet.” Seymour will try to regroup and took some positive steps after the game as several varsity players worked on skills in a scrimmage with the Junior Varsity. Seymour will host Halls on Tuesday night, while TKA continues a busy week, hosting Heritage on Friday night and Gatlinburg Pittman on Monday night. Pigeon Forge 4, TKA 2 The Lions (3-2) took six more shots at the Pigeon Forge goal (21-15), but gave Pigeon Forge (2-2) its first win over TKA. The Lions gave the Tigers an early goal before Danny Oh scored late in the first with an assist from Keita Ochi. TKA went to the half tied1-1. PFHS netted three second half goals while the Lions were shooting but not hitting. With less than two minutes in the game Oh got his second goal. TKA fell 4-2. TKA 10, Heritage 0 The King’s Academy(4-2) outshot and outscored visiting Heritage Friday night. Keita Ochi scored three first half goals. Danny Oh netted two goals on assist by Ochi and JooMin Kim. Uwayo closed the first period scores with an assist from Oh and the Lions leading 6-0. Abubacar Badio scored twice in the second on assists from Daouda Badio. Attoumbre netted one and Badio scored the last goal on an assist from Scott Yang. G.P. 3, TKA 0 The Highlanders visited TKA Monday night and the teams fought threw a scoreless first half. Gatlinburg-Pittman got on track and scored three second half goals, while being outshot by the Lions 13-7. TKA is next in action on Thursday against Sevier County.