ST. GEORGE – The Flyers invaded Panther Stadium on Tuesday, May 10, and picked up a win in the final regular season game, preparing themselves for the postseason.

Pine View High School didn’t make it easy on Dixie High School in this boys’ soccer showdown, but the Flyers came out in the second half to get the 2-0 win.

The Panthers forced the Flyers into the locker room in a scoreless tie, and all it took was leadership from Dixie’s team captain, senior forward Trenton Truman, to get things back on track for the playoff-bound Flyers.

“I felt [the game plan] wasn’t working,” Truman said. “So I went up to Coach and told him we needed to switch things up.”

Dixie coach Burt Myers listened to his elected captain, and the Flyers wasted no time putting the first goal on the board.

Pine View’s defenders were clustered together down inside the goal box, so as Truman received the pass in the interior of the defense he made a cut to the right side of the field.

Truman swooped his way around the Panthers defense and kicked the ball into the left corner of the net.

“I was happy with our senior leadership,” Myers said. “Trenton Truman came up to me at halftime, and we switched our game plan.”

Truman said the Panthers were keying in on certain Dixie players in the first half, so part of the new game plan in the second half was to change the lineup. With a couple of new players out on the field the Panthers game plan was shaken, allowing for Truman to take advantage of the confusion.

Dixie’s second goal came less than 10 minutes later off the foot of junior defender Austin Barker. His teammates made sure to give Barker a bigger celebration because this was Barker’s first goal of the season. Barker fell to both knees at midfield and shouted to the sky. Two of his teammates came to each side of him and started to bow down to him.

The loss for Pine View ends a 4-12 season. The loss to finish the season was also the eighth loss in a row for the Panthers.

Meanwhile, Dixie is in a completely opposite situation. The win marks the Flyers’ sixth win in their last seven games, and they will receive a week of rest before the state playoffs begin. Dixie’s postseason opponent has yet to be determined.

“We haven’t peaked yet,” Myers said. “We need to keep cleaning it up. Our passes need to be truer, and our first touches need to be tighter.”

Truman echoed Myers’ concerns going forward.

“We need to go forward with more confidence,” he said. “We need to be more positive and keep our heads up.”

Copyright St. George News