A pair of high school local soccer team will square off at noon Friday to decide the District 5-AAA championship.
After victories in the semifinals Tuesday, top-seeded Cleveland will entertain Walker Valley in a special midday match due to the schools having graduation ceremonies Thursday and Friday evenings.
The Blue Raiders down fourth-seed McMinn County 4-2 Tuesday, while the second-seeded Mustangs shutout No. 3 Rhea County 5-0.
There is no school Friday at CHS due to a "professional day," so Benny Monroe Stadium is available for the high noon showdown.
During the regular season the local rivals had a hard-fought match, with the Raiders (9-6-1) claiming a 2-1 edge on Walker Valley (10-8)
Both teams advance to the Region 3 event next week, where they'll face off with Howard and East Hamilton, who are battle for their league crown Thursday evening.
Walker Valley got off to a rough start according to head coach Ethan Taylor, struggling to score on a few early opportunities - including a blocked PK by Rhea's goalie.
However, senior Graham Delmotte finally broke the ice when he the back of the net after receiving a well timed through ball by Grey Davies in the 28th minute.
Seven minutes later Delmotte would add a second goal to his tally just before halftime with a one-touch finish, coming from a cross by senior Jake Arntz.
After the intermission, Arntz netted a goal for himself by hitting a right upper 90 shot after receiving a defender splitting pass from senior Christian Franz.
Junior Alex Lakatosh joined the goal scoring in the 63rd minute after running onto a perfectly timed through pass by senior Alan Velasquez.
The fifth and final goal of the night came in the last two minutes from freshman Brenden Bledsoe making his varsity debut in the final five minutes of the match. Senior Juan Herrera-Garcia handed out the assist on the goal.
— No individual information on the Cleveland win was received by presstime, but will be added when provided.
