GRAY DEYOSports Writer

Despite being a man down for most of the second half the Tullahoma boys’ soccer team was able to hold on against KIPP Global, winning 5-2.

The Wildcats gained a 3-0 advantage in the first half. Jude Smith Scored the opening goal, Gage Allen scored the second, and Aiden Walker scored the third.

Allen ended the game with a hat trick, netting the other two goals for the Wildcats in the second half. Allen has just recently been rolled back into the Wildcats lineup, after being a part of the Wildcats men’s basketball’s run to state, and has been a huge weapon for Tullahoma since he has been back on the pitch.

The Wildcats needed every last one of their goals, with a red card being given to one of their players at the start of the second half, on a questionable call.

The Wildcats then scrapped and clawed, having to play nearly forty minutes with a 10-man lineup. They held up for most of it, but fatigue began to weigh heavy in the final 10-minute stretch of the game. Given the Tullahoma players had to cover extra field, KIPP capitalized on the empty gas tanks of the Wildcat players and netted in a couple of late goals.

However, the big first half from the Wildcats made this late momentum gained by the KIPP a nonfactor.

Head coach of the Tullahoma boys’ soccer team Richie Chadwick said the first half of the game is definitely something they can build off to try to tie together a longer run of success, as his team currently sits with a 4-4-2 record.