Jackets, Lady Jackets wrap up soccer seasons
Published 4:00 pm Thursday, October 17, 2019
Lady Jackets (4-11)
After a tough season, the Middlesboro Lady Jackets won the 50th District championship before falling to the Corbin Lady Redhounds in the regional tournament. Throughout the season, Middlesboro was led by Kaitlyn Benson, who netted six goals and had two assists. Kayla James followed closely with three goals and one assist on the season.
Emily Barnwell had two goals on the year with three assists. Madison Irvin had one goal and two assists on the year. Madison Mason added one goal on the season for Middlesboro. Macy Bruce, Alexis Vanover, Madison McClelland and Haley Moyers all added one assist each for the Lady Jackets this season.
After falling to the Corbin Lady Hounds in the first round of the 13th Region tournament, the Lady Jackets fell to 4-11 to close out their year. However, they took home a nice piece of hardware after winning the 50th District tournament by defeating the Knox Central Lady Panthers and the Harlan County Lady Bears in back-to-back days.
Yellow Jackets (10-3)
After winning the 50th District tournament on Oct. 10, the Middlesboro Yellow Jackets fell to the South Laurel Cardinals 7-0 on Oct. 15 to close their season at 10-3.
“It’s disappointing to finish the season with a loss like that,” said Middlesboro coach Tim Millet. “That shouldn’t take away from the wonderful season we had though. We won 10 games and a district championship this year. We have nothing to hang our heads about.”
Millet believes that his seniors helped lead his team to a district championship this season.
“Our seniors were huge for us this season,” he said. “The leadership they exhibited throughout the season made us better every single game. We didn’t have all of those guys as long as we would have liked to, but we are thankful for what time we did have them and all the things we were able to accomplish.”
Ahead of next season, Millet anticipates a good group to join the high school ranks for 2020.
“I’m looking forward to next season,” said Millet. “The success of this past season has me excited to see what we are capable of next year. We’ve got a lot of guys coming back that are looking forward to getting back out on the field as soon as we are able to. We will continue to be the same hard working team that we always have been. We will always be competing, and we will always be having a blast doing it. We are going to miss these guys that are graduating and we thank them for all of the hard work they put in for Middlesboro.”