MORGANTOWN — It isn’t often that one of the largest schools in the state and one of the smallest schools get together for any athletic contest.
When it comes to the Morgantown High and Trinity boys’ soccer teams, the yearly match has become one that each team and respective head coach have come to enjoy and learn from.
The most recent matchup on Monday night in Sabraton went to the visiting Mohigans 5-0, but not without a hard-nosed effort by the hosting Warriors (4-3).
MHS senior Riley Brabson secured a brace with two goals and also provided an assist. The Mohigans had three other goal scorers in Ayden Shepard, Ray Hanif, and Alex Gonzalez-Tanon.
TCS goalkeeper Parker Hopkins played a terrific game between the posts despite the five goals that went past.
Head coaches Dan Lohmann of Trinity Christian and Sam Snyder of Morgantown both praised the other program for the effort in the game and the job each has done in recent years.
“We love Trinity and the job they do here,” Snyder said. “They are always a tough opponent, and we know that this game is always one that we can take something away from, and that’s why we continue to play them every year. They work together as a unit well and are sound defensively. I thought we did well tonight working the ball to space and in our set pieces also.”
Lohmann knows playing a program like MHS (6-1-1) every year does nothing but help his team improve despite the result.
“They play really well together and play connected,” he said. “It’s a very like-minded game and Sam and I are similar in how we coach sometimes. We want to keep going with this series as we have for the last four years and even scrimmaging in the offseason.”
Two of the Mohigans’ five goals came after a long throw-in by senior Aidan Stire into the 18-yard box. Shepard pounced on the first to open the scoring just over five minutes into the game. The second came 60 seconds later, and Brabson scored his first goal of the night with a well-placed header to double the lead 2-0 with 30 minutes still left to play in the first half.
After conceding the second goal, the Warriors settled into the game and didn’t allow the Mohigans to find the net over the next 20 minutes.
But with 12:50 left until the halftime break, Hanif found himself behind the TCS back line and fired past Hopkins for the third goal of the night for MHS.
The visitors picked up where they left off in the first half and added to their total after Tanon poked the ball over the line from a corner that bounced inside the box for a 4-0 lead.
Brabson added the fifth and final goal, his second of the night, at the half-hour mark in the second half.
The Mohigans improve to 6-1-1 and will travel to Linsly at 5:30 p.m. Tuesday, while the Warriors fall to 4-3 and will also hit the road for their next contest on Thursday at Wood Country Christian.
