Rivera sparks rivalry win for Mavericks
Longtime crosstown rivals Clinton and Anderson County renewed acquaintances on the soccer pitch last week.
Before the match, the Dragons and Mavericks were headed in different directions.
Anderson County was mired in a long losing streak, while Clinton was enjoying one of its most-successful campaigns in recent years.
But streaks are made to be broken, and the Mavericks found their way back into the win column with a 2-0 victory as Jimmy Rivera scored two goals and Andrew Wilson dished out a pair of assists.
Anderson County goalkeeper Brandtley Barrett recorded a clean sheet.
“He did a good job, and he had some big saves,” Anderson County Coach Chris Curtin said of Barrett. “This was a big win for us.
“It’s always big for us when we beat Clinton, but for us, it seemed like this time it was bigger because we’ve been struggling, and we ended a long losing streak.
“This was big for our kids because now they know that they can compete with the teams in our district (District 4-AA). We had a game where we lost in double overtime and a shootout, and then I’d like to have the Union County game back.”
Despite the loss, Clinton Coach Filip Leander said he was pleased with his team’s effort against the Mavericks.
“This was a big step forward for our program,” he said. “I’m really proud of our guys. Last year, this game wasn’t really competitive.
“We played great against Anderson County. It’s just like in basketball when you miss a couple of layups. They made theirs and we missed ours. In our district, we won a shootout and we lost a shootout.”
