Tigers, Highlanders on to region

Pigeon Forge will host region game Tuesday, while G-P must go on the road news@theheraldnewspapers.com The soccer teams from both Pigeon Forge High School and Gatlinburg-Pittman High School each earned berths in the region tournament after a hard-fought, dramatic district championship game Thursday evening at Pigeon Forge that the home team pulled out 3-2. The Tigers will host University School of Johnson City, the runner-up in the sister-district, while the Highlanders will go on the road to tangle with Elizabethton, the champions of the neighboring 1-A/AA district. Both region games will be played on Tuesday. The Tigers’ Alex Henriquez scored a pair of goals in his team’s district championship victory over the Highlanders. The two county foes have met for the District A/AA title now in two consecutive years with Pigeon Forge winning both meetings. After Henrizuez had scored his second goal of the evening to put Pigeon Forge up 2-1 during the second half, Gatlinburg-Pittman’s Brandon Hill answered with a Highlanders’ score to even the count at 2-2 with close to five minutes left in regulation. Pigeon Forge senior Van Harper then netted the winning goal for the Tigers during the contests’ waning minutes. Hill finished with both of G-P’s goals to equal Pigeon Forge’s Henriquez for the game’s top scorers with two apiece. Pigeon Forge is now 12-5-1 on the season while the Highlanders take an overall mark of 8-8-1 into the region tournament.