By Joe Wilson, Staff Writer

Reynolds High School was defeated 3-0 by East Chapel Hill in the N.C. Field Hockey Association state championship game on Saturday at Forsyth Country Day School.

It was a matchup of two historically great teams; between the two of them they had won the past six state titles, with East now owning five straight.

The game was played mostly on Reynolds’ defensive end, with the Demons struggling to break into an offensive pattern.

“It was a really hard game,” coach Ansley Browning said. “They had a tight defense, and we couldn’t play our usual passing game.”

After 10 minutes of scoreless play, East struck with a goal off of a corner. Not long after, one of the Wildcats received a red card for yelling at a fan, and Reynolds had several opportunities to even the score a few moments later off of four straight corners, but could not convert.

East came out hard in the second half, battering the Demons defensively until breaking through about five minutes in. Almost immediately afterward, the Wildcats scored again on another corner, making the score 3-0 with almost 25 minutes left.

The game finished with the same score, although Reynolds had chances to get on the board late in the game.

Rather than focus on the championship loss, the mood after the game was one of pride in the success of the team, which finished 14-3.

“It was a valiant effort by the girls,” freshman JJ Hoots said. “They (the Wildcats) are a really prestigious team.”

Reynolds was already looking forward to next year, hoping to maintain its level of excellence into next season and take home the first-place trophy.

“We’re only graduating four starting seniors this year,” Browning said. “We have a lot of talent in our sophomore and junior classes.”

One of those seniors is star and captain Chandler Borton, who will play field hockey for Wake Forest next year: “It’s sad that this was my last game,” Borton said, “and I will miss these girls dearly, but I’m happy to be moving on to the next chapter of my field hockey career.”

The team will miss Borton along with the rest of the seniors, not just for their skill on the field. The camaraderie of the team was evident after the game. Tears and smiles were evident all along the sideline, but no matter what they were feeling, each Demon shared it with each other.

“I’ve never played on a team that loves each other as much as we do,” Borton said. “I couldn’t be more proud to be a leader of this team.”