Matthew Gorry | The Yadkin Ripple

Chandler Chappell and the Rams saw their season come to an end in the opening round of the 2A state playoffs to West Davidson.

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LEXINGTON - Starmount made an early exit in the 2A state playoffs with an opening-round 4-2 loss to West Davidson last Tuesday night.

In a first-half scoring outburst, the Dragons struck first with 28:59 remaining when TJ Eller scored an unassisted goal from a free kick.

Chandler Chappell brought the Rams even at 1-1 less than three minutes later on an unassisted goal.

But West responded with a quick goal at the 20:41 mark when Sammy Antonelli found the back of the net to put the Dragons back up at 2-1.

Starmount knotted the game once again when Chappell set up David Barrera for the equalizing goal to tie the game a 2-2 late in the first half.

The Dragons weren’t done in the opening half as Eller scored his second goal to put West up for good when he punched it in from a corner kick with 12:12 left on the clock.

In the second half, both squads attacked and countered the other teams’ attack, but the Dragons controlled possession.

“We made too many little mistakes in the open field,” Draughn explained. “We would win the ball and then turn it over or play the ball deep and kill our attack. We keep shooting ourselves in the foot when we tried to make a charge.”

Starmount struggled to find the equalizer as Eller completed his hat trick with 7:49 left in the game to seal West’s 4-2 first-round victory.

“It was one of those games where we played well in the first half and everything that could go wrong, went wrong, in regards to our possession and shooting,” Draughn said. “I am proud of the boys for the season they had. A lot of people had written us off but we managed to salvage the season and finish 9-8-2 overall and 7-7 in conference.

“We will make some changes next season and during the offseason, but I hate it for the seven seniors who played their last game in a SHS soccer uniform,” he continued. “To the returning players: the challenge is to you. With a drop in classification and a somewhat new conference, the future is bright for us, but it all starts during the offseason.”

Reach Matthew Gorry at 835-1513 or mgorry@heartlandpublications.com.