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Elkins falls in regional contest

CLARKSBURG — Elkins High School faced Robert C. Byrd in a Class AA/A Region Championship match on Tuesday, and the Flying Eagles defended home turf by way of an 8-1 win to vault themselves into the state playoff picture.

RCB went up 2-0 with 31:35 remaining in the first half, and broke the match wide open at 5-0 once by halftime. Elkins’ lone goal was scored on a penalty kick by junior midfielder Jared Parsons in the second half.

Back to back successful tries from the penalty stripe by Byrd’s junior striker, Emilio Buffy, made the second half of the first stanza an even tougher hill for EHS to climb while facing the 5-0 deficit at halftime.

“I think we had a good team-building season,” Tigers coach Travis Fletcher said. “We had moments where we were hot, and then times when we were cold. We got behind early at RCB, and it is an 11-on-11 game.”

Fletcher spoke positively about the Tigers’ accomplishments this year, and said good strides have been made.

“I want to thank our seniors for doing a great job,” he said. “Getting a sectional championship is a solid momentum builder, and a good accomplishment by far. It takes a team, including the bench players that also go into the contest, to be as good as our starting lineup overall.

“Sometimes just an extra little goal scorer after the ball is worked down in can be the difference,” he said. “But it’s not always that simple, it takes a lot of persons to do that.”

The Tigers finished the 2016 slate with a final record of 9 wins and 11 defeats, with an AA/A Region II/Section 2 title in tow.

The Inter-Mountain photo by Tony Baisi Elkins High School junior midfielder Jared Parsons pushes the ball forward during Tuesday's Region II title game against Robert C. Byrd in Clarksburg.

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