By Chuck Reherman
Sports Editor
MOORE – With nothing to play for, Yukon’s Miller soccer team could have come out and played one of two ways.
The Millers could have chosen to play to just get the match over or play to win.
YHS chose the latter and nearly played a spoilers role for Westmoore.
The Millers had seen their playoff chances end earlier in the week with a loss at U.S. Grant. But, the Millers didn’t play like it and took Westmoore to the wire before the Jaguars scored in the final two minutes to pull out a 1-0 win.
That win gave the Jaguars the runner-up spot in District 6A-1. Had the Millers pulled off the upset, Westmoore could have missed the playoffs all together.
“We talked before the game and leading up to the game that it was the last for the seniors and reminded the under classmen that the time playing goes by so quick and to never waste an opportunity to compete,” YHS head coach Neil Hilton said. “We came out wanting to win missing a couple of key players gave other guys a chance to impress as we looked forward to next year and they certainly did that.
“We matched Westmoore for 79 minutes and unfortunately got punished in the last minute,” he added. “I was proud of the guys for the effort. Sadly didn’t end how we’d of liked.”
The Miller defense frustrated the Westmoore offense all night and actually had more chances to score in the first half than the Jags.
“I think the major plus was having Isaac (Sisney) back, we certainly missed his recovery speed the previous two games,” Hilton said. “We changed our formation slightly to allow us to play with the guys we had available.
“I was very proud of how we played it would of been very easy to roll over and take a beating with only one of the two teams battling for playoffs,” he said. “It was good just to have our defenders back.”
Westmoore’s lone score came at the 78:20 mark, scoring on an open play from around the 20 yard marker and it just rolled into the corner.
YHS had three scoring chances in the first half and two in the second.
