Score round one for St. Stephens.
With the Northwestern 3A-4A Conference's top spot on the line, Monday night's matchup between the league's two heavyweights in the Indians and Hickory played out much like one might expect.
Both teams felt each other out for a while, jabbed back and forth, but for much of the night neither could connect.
St. Stephens, though, finally got the knock-out blow it was looking for when Chris Sigmon's head shot off a Cody Solesbee corner kick in the 67th minute found the Red Tornadoes' goal, lifting the Indians to the 1-0 victory at Hickory.
The win extends St. Stephens victory streak to eight, bumps its overall mark to 10-3-1 and keeps its conference mark unblemished at 5-0 to remain on top in the league standings.
After rattling off 15 straight wins to start the season, the Red Tornadoes suffer their first setback and fall a game and a half behind the Indians at 3-1.
The win also was a milestone one for Chuck Davis, who collected his 100th victory as the Indians boys soccer coach.
The win was an emotional one for the St. Stephens head man, but it was his squad's ability to remain even-keeled in the high-stakes contest, he said, that played a large hand in the victory between two of the state's top 3A programs.
"I told the guys that if they go out and play like they can, the ball will bounce our way," said Davis, whose team entered the game ranked seventh in the most recent North Carolina Soccer Coaches Association 3A poll.
"I told them to be calm and just play, and not psych yourself out, and the guys were just outstanding.
"We could've walked off the field with our head held high no matter what the outcome, and the two of us have teams who can compete and go far this season," Davis added.
Hickory came in to the game ranked second in the NCSCA poll, but a Red Tornadoes offense that had scored fewer than three goals only once this season had trouble finding a rhythm all night.
"Defensively, they were effective in punching the ball away, and they kept us from getting into any sort of a flow," said Hickory head coach Brian Jillings. "They just defended really well, and for the most part so did we.
"Unfortunately, we didn't get the one break we needed and they did."
The Indians got theirs late in the game with one of the few clean looks for either team. St. Stephens out shot the Red Tornadoes 15-12, but open opportunities for both teams were a rarity.
But the Indians got their chance when Keith Cooper ran down a ball at Hickory's end of the field and batted it off a Red Tornadoes defender, setting up Solesbee's corner kick.
The junior midfielder's boot from the left corner found Sigmon, whose header fell into the right side of the Hickory net for the game's only score.
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