Signal Mountain High School breezed past Memphis Business Academy, in the Division I Class A State Quarter-Final on Tuesday. The eagles got in a rhythm early and cruised to a 7-0 victory over the Execs.
Senior, Aaron Easterly, opened the scoring under six minutes into the match when he received a through ball down the left side from fellow senior, Max Burk. Easterly beat the outside back for pace and calmly finished at the near post to give Signal Mountain a 1-0 lead.
The lead was doubled when junior, Clay Gallant, found the bottom left corner and left the keeper stunned.
Junior, Nicholas Galea, lobbed the MBA keeper to make it 3-0 at halftime. Signal Mountain was in complete control and never looked back.
Gallant was involved again when he provided the assist to senior, George Coogan. Sophomore playmaker, Samuel Poss, provided the assist to Gallant’s second goal off of a corner kick. Poss added another assist to his personal stat sheet when he set up the Eagles sixth goal, when junior, Keeling Kennedy scored a flicked header off of Poss’ corner kick. Gallant scored Signal Mountain’s seventh as he completed his hat trick.
“Good thing was getting the lead and we were able to get everybody off.” said Signal Mountain Head Coach, Richard Northcutt.
Signal Mountain will face a familiar foe in the semifinal of the Class A state tournament as they take on Grace Christian Academy. That match will be on Wednesday at 6:30 P.M. on field two at the Richard Siegel Soccer Complex.
CSAS will face the reigning champions, Gatlinburg-Pittman, in the other Semi-Final at the same time on field four.