Grieve notches hat trick in Aycock's road win

By Rudy Coggins
Published in Sports on August 21, 2014 1:48 PM

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Battered and bruised, Noah Adkins kept fighting for every ball.

His sweat-soaked, mud-stained jersey served as proof of his stout effort. He just wished Wayne Country Day had more to show for it in a 3-1, non-conference loss to county rival Charles B. Aycock on Wednesday afternoon.

The defeat snapped the Chargers' three-game win streak.

Returning starter Chris Grieve logged a natural hat trick (three straight goals) for the Golden Falcons, who were playing their season-opening match.

"Noah, who I thought was actually the best midfielder out of both teams on the field, he was creating," WCDS head coach Steve Ellis said. "I don't know the number, the really tall one with the black headband (Bobby Hampton), he's like the Incredible Hulk compared to Bricks (Adkins) in stature.

"Bricks stood with him and won free kicks all day long so I'm really proud of him for that."

Two first-half free kicks, within two minutes of each other, deflected off of Aycock's four-man wall. Speedster Tony Townsend got free for a couple of breakaway chances, but couldn't convert as the Golden Falcons built a two-goal lead by halftime.

Townsend finally struck in the 50th minute.

Adkins sent a ball through the Aycock defense, Townsend dribbled wide and toward the left side of the goal. Tilghman failed to slide out and play the ball at the near post, which left Townsend plenty of room to notch his fifth goal of the season.

WCDS finished with 15 shots on the day.

"We created our own problems in the back by not defending and making ourselves one-dimensional," said CBA head coach Byron Adkins, who is Noah's dad.

"Overall, a win is a win, but I'm not too pleased with it. It wasn't the performance I thought we would have. Should Wayne Country Day have done a little better with their chances? Maybe."

Neither team executed its initial gameplan.

And it proved more costly for the Chargers.

Aycock moved the ball at times and generated its first goal out of the flow of play. Jacob Norris won a ball in the back, sent it to through to Chris Grieve, who dribbled into a one-on-one situation against WCDS keeper Patrick Hall.

Hall came off his line to challenge, but Grieve pushed it around him for a 1-0 lead in the 23rd minute. Less than seven minutes later, Grieve scored again.

Norris put the ball in play on a restart. Wayne Country Day's defense let it bounce free and to the foot of Hampton, who flicked it forward to Grieve. One touch later, Grieve gave Aycock a 2-0 advantage it carried into halftime.

"That was probably the turning point of us attempting to get back into the game," Ellis said. "If you're trying to control the ball with your foot on shoulder level, you should head it instead. But we didn't do it, we missed the ball on foot.

"We gave them the first two, really."

The Chargers pressured more in the second half and play became physical. The teams combined for 19 fouls and four yellow cards on the day.

Grieve completed his hat trick with a penalty kick around the 78-minute mark. Aycock finished with 15 shots and Tilghman recorded six saves between the pipes.