Arlington pays a visit to Millington, leave Trojans with important lesson
Thomas Sellers, Jr.
West 10/Legacy Media
The past couple of seasons for the Millington Trojan Soccer team have garnered them more respect.
Reaching the Class 3A State Tournament in Murfreesboro in 2023 and 2024 have placed Head Coach Jerrett Everson’s program on the map statewide. Now local powerhouse teams like Memphis Central, Trinity Christian Academy and March 31 opponent the Arlington Tigers welcome a challenge from the Millington Trojans.
The Tigers made the trip to Flag City and hopped on the pitch of Millington Stadium to compete with the host Trojans. After 58 minutes and 15 seconds of action, the score was 2-1 in favor of the Tigers.
Then Arlington got on a roll with three goals in a six-minute span to eventually prevail 5-1 over Millington.
“The first 65 minutes were solid,” Everson said of his Trojans. “I think that’s some of the best soccer we’ve played. We’ve just got to figure out how to keep it going the whole time.”
Arlington improved to 6-2 overall with the victory at Millington. The Tigers led 2-0 at halftime with senior forward Ben Myers getting the scoring started with a rebound goal at the 15:11 mark of the contest.
About 10 minutes later the Tigers were aggressive on goal, cluttering the box when Steven Marchand managed to get a shot that connected with the back of the net for Arlington’s second goal.
When both teams returned from the break, the Trojans were more aggressive and got a few shot opportunities. Then Millington standout Daniel Garcia took advantage of a chance to get a clear shot off and scored making the tally 2-1.
Nursing an one-goal lead seemed to wake up the Tigers. Arlington roared with three goals starting with a Grayson Mills score. The Tigers’ advantage grew to 4-1 at the 66:13 mark when Myers tallied his second goal of the night.
Juan Villasmil put the icing on the Arlington cake with his penalty kick goal with 8:55 remaining in the game.
The Trojans left the game defeated by four goals, but Millington departed from the Arlington game another step forward after taking a blow earlier in March losing sophomore goalkeeper Hollis Chalker to a broken leg.
“We took a hit losing Hollis,” Everson said. “We’ve had to change some things around. From that rebound things have been going well. The biggest thing, we lost eight seniors, is chemistry. Once that chemistry starts clicking we’ll be back to everybody saying we’re one of the best teams on 51.”
Millington already traveled along Highway 51 to take on the likes of Dyersburg to a 1-1 tie and outlasting Tipton-Rosemark Academy 3-2. The Trojans have also played the likes of Crosstown and Lakeland Prep.
The next phase of the season for the Trojans will see the likes of league foes like Covington, Brighton and Munford.
“The conversation we had earlier, in practice we were practicing lazy like they’ve already earned something,” Everson concluded. “I had to let them know, ‘Only two or three of you guys on the team are champions. The rest of y’all just watched them become champions.’ I told them, ‘This season is the chance for you all to prove you can become champions just like they did.’”
