eagles put controversial game vs. bears behind them

The Seymour Eagles soccer squad will get a seven day cooling-off period after one of the most talked-about games in recent memory last week ended in a 1-1 tie with bitter county rival Sevier County.

The Eagles and Bears met on the soccer field at SHS last Thursday afternoon in an emotional slug-fest that ended in a controversial dead-heat. The Eagles (2-0-1) are not scheduled to take the field again until Thursday at 5 p.m. when they face Middle Tennessee power Portland on Benton Householder Field at SHS.

Last week’s meeting with the Bears was fiercely competitive from the get-go.

The teams battled to a halftime tie before Seymour senior standout Carlos Lopez put the home team on top, 1-0, 12 minutes into the second half. Lopez attacked the SCHS defense with the dribble and fired the unassisted marker past the Smoky Bears’ keeper to bring a roar from the partisan home crowd.

The visitors answered less than three minutes later when Sevier County’s Stephan Fox pushed a shot past Seymour keeper Garrett Becker, tying the count at 1-1.

Although both teams traded scoring threats in the game’s waning moments, the defenses reigned supreme and emotions heightened between the rivals until a brief physical altercation erupted on the field near in the contest’s final minutes.

Game officials dismissed two players from Seymour and one player from Sevier County for what they deemed as unsportsmanlike conduct.

“It was just some chest bumping and when they were separated a couple of our guys kept running their mouths and got a red-card,” said first-year SHS head coach Bobby Norwood. “(The Sevier County player) got red-carded for running his mouth too.”

Norwood said although he is unhappy with his squad’s performance against the Smoky Bears, he pointed out the game was allowed to get out of control early.

“I felt like we were the better team,” said Norwood, “but the officials allowed it to get out of control from the start.

"I didn't like the way we played at all though," Norwood continued. "Sevier County was our first real test and now we just have to get our heads back together and get back to playing like I know we're capable of playing." 

Norwood blamed the referees for not being consistent with their calls and for their inability to corral the emotions of the players and gain control of the action from the game’s opening minute.

He said it’s a shame a contest between two talented high school soccer teams was lost on the referees.

“It was just a poor job by the officials,” Norwood agreed to go on record as saying. “There were probably 30 fouls called in the first half and only one yellow card was handed out.

“In the second half (the referees) just got card-happy,” Norwood continued. “We had seven or eight cards in the second half.”

Norwood said in his three total years coaching soccer at SHS (two as an assistant and one as the head coach) Thursday was the first time he’d ever seen a game get so out of hand.

“It’s not that hard to keep two teams like (Seymour and Sevier County) in check,” the SHS coach commented. “If the ref would have came out in the first five minutes and set the tone for the game it would have been completely different. As it was, it was just two teams out there fighting with testosterone. It was ridiculous.”

Norwood said the Eagles now must focus on putting the game with Sevier County behind them and get back to the business of trying to win a championship.

“We have some big games coming up, starting with a very good Portland team visiting Thursday and then next week (Tuesday, April 1) we get back into the district with a home game against Fulton,” Norwood said. “We’re looking forward to hosting the first Smoky Mountain Invitational starting on April 3.”

The Eagles will be one of four teams (South-Doyle, Jefferson County and Anderson County) that will be vying for the first Smoky Mountain Invitational Championship in a tournament to he held at SHS on April 3^rd, 4^th and 5^th.

Seymour will play four games in the second week of April in a tournament hosted by Kingsport Dobyns-Bennett.