Dyersburg gets Senior Night win over Haywood via mercy rule

Dyersburg High School honored the senior members of the Lady Trojan soccer team with a Senior Night Ceremony during halftime of the DHS win over Haywood on Monday night. Members honored were (from left) DHS Assistant Coach Brent Coleman, DHS Assistant Coach Jun Echavez, Jazmin Romero, Avery Coleman, Taniyah Mclin, McKenzie Duggan, Amariah Atkins, and Dyersburg Head Coach Musa Manneh.

Photo/Jason Peevyhouse

By JASON PEEVYHOUSE

Sports Editor

After a rough start to the season, the Dyersburg girls soccer team got into the win column in a big way on Monday night while honoring its seniors with a 9-0 mercy rule win over Haywood at J.C. Sawyers Stadium.

“We needed this one,” Dyersburg Head Coach Musa Manneh said. “It’s just like in any other sport. In basketball, they say ‘you’ve got to see the ball go into the hoop’.

“Sometimes you just need a win to set you rolling. It’s a timely win. Districts are coming up.”

The district schedule gets underway on Thursday, actually, as Dyersburg travels to Troy to take on Obion County Central at 5:30 p.m.

The Lady Trojans got on the board early and often as freshman striker Haddy Manneh scored in the opening minute of the game to give Dyersburg a 1-0 lead after a Merideth Zamzow assist.

Six minutes later, Manneh tacked on her second goal of the day to extend the Lady Trojan lead thanks to an assist from Ava Winegardner in the seventh minute.

Winegardner got into the scoring column herself in the 14th minute as she scored to push the Lady Trojan lead to 3-0.

Moments later, Dyersburg added a third goal from Manneh to complete the hat trick and push the advantage to 4-0.

Two minutes later, senior Taniyah Mclin got a goal in the 16th minute to put Dyersburg up by five goals.

Manneh scored a fourth goal in the 26th minute before Zamzow added a putback in the 38th minute to give Dyersburg a 7-0 lead heading into the half.

Zamzow scored again in the 47th minute before Manneh’s fifth goal ended the Lady Trojan win via mercy rule in the 49th minute.

“It’s nice to have that first win under our belts going into district play,” Manneh added.

The win on Monday night is one Manneh hopes will get things going for the Lady Trojans.

“That’s what you hope,” the Dyersburg head coach said. “The girls needed to feel and see success.

“It’s a very young team. Sometimes, it takes growing pains to get there. That seems to be what’s happening to us this year.”

Dyersburg has also played a challenging schedule with the likes of Arlington and Bartlett among the early season opponents.

“You play hard games at the front end of the season,” Manneh explained. “The results aren’t always that pretty but that’s just part of it.

“You’d rather play hard teams and be ready when it matters and that’s when district gets here.”