Harpeth began its journey to the state tournament this week with a region semifinal win against Fayetteville on Tuesday night via shutout.
The Indians defeated Fayetteville 3-0. With that win, Harpeth advanced on to the region finals against Richland. Harpeth, again, pulled out the win by a score of 3-2.
After winning the region semifinal on Tuesday, Harpeth was guaranteed a spot in sub-state but the win on Thursday against Richland gave Harpeth homefield advantage on Saturday night.
Thursday’s win against Richland marked Harpeth’s first ever region championship in boys’ soccer. But that would be far from the only “firsts” that Harpeth would achieve this week.
Harpeth used that homefield advantage to shut out Scotts Hill on Saturday to win 3-0. Kyler Hartley scored all three goals for Harpeth in the sub-state playoff.
Saturday night was dreadful. The skies were turning dark before the game even started but that didn’t stop Harpeth and Scotts Hill from beginning the game. Harpeth controlled the pace of the game through the first eight minutes until the first lightning strike showed up. The referees stopped the game at that point.
The game stopped around 6:15 and didn’t resume play for about three hours but the Indians were still ready for action when they stepped back on the field. Kyler Hartley, who has led the district in goals all year, got the scoring started in the first half and gave Harpeth a 1-0 lead but that would be the only goal for either team.
Heading to the second half, Harpeth’s offense, mainly Hartley on this night, stayed hot. 24 minutes into the second half, Harpeth added to its advantage as Hartley found the back of the net once again. He would score his third and final goal just four minutes later.
Harpeth went on to get the 3-0 win against Scotts Hill to punch its ticket to its first state tournament appearance in school history.
The Indians are scheduled to face Merroll Hyde on Tuesday at 2:00 in the state quarterfinals.
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