farragutpress

Ads seeing growth as postseason nears

April 15, 2026 by Jake Nichols

Bradley Culbreth knows all too well the depth of talent within the boys soccer teams in District 4-3A.

But if he needed any reminder, the Admirals’ match against West certainly gave a fitting one.

The Rebels won 4-3 in an intense penalty kick shootout, as West keeper Ben Laing deflected a shot from Farragut High School junior Brody Dickerson to send the visitors into a euphoric sprint toward their goalie.

Technically the match was filed as a tie. But in the case of any potential postseason tiebreakers, the nod would go to West.

“They’ve got quality and we do, too,” Culbreth said. “You don’t get to 10 wins with their schedule without that.”

The sequence capped a primetime bout, as the teams traded blows through a scoreless 100 minutes before two 10-minute overtime periods gave way to penalty kicks.

Neither team wavered through two halves, as Farragut proved unable to find the net despite close attempts from Eric Bukovitz on a header, Charlie Sorochan in the second half and another attempt by Nathan Henderson, whose shot was stopped by a diving Laing.

Matthew Burney made a similar effort for Farragut by fending off multiple West attempts — one on a leaping grab in overtime — with help from the Ads’ back line.

“He really wasn’t tested that much, but he has been in other games,” Culbreth said of Burney. “We’re solid in the back, and this will be good for us from a mental standpoint in having to fight through it.“

The teams remained at an impasse through the first OT, then the intensity ratcheted up when each team landed a shot on top of the other’s net in the second overtime.

Once penalty kicks rolled around, the visitors took a 2-0 lead in PKs off goals from Oliver Bankston and Musa Kromah, only for Tyden Sanchez and Uday Sujithkumar to knot the score at 2 apiece.

Unger and West’s Grayson Huffaker nailed two of the final three goals for the match, and Oscar Wimmer found the net on what wound up being the last score of the night.

“Our effort was there,” Culbreth said. “I thought we had the run of play the entire overtime, just didn’t finish it. It’s good mental growth. We want these situations because, win or lose, you still learn from it and grow.”

Farragut did exactly that on Monday, April 13, blanking William Blount 4-0 behind goals from Charlie Sorochan, Caleb Gahagan, Will Morris and Nathan Henderson

with a clean sheet from Parker Fuller.

“They made it hard on us, but it’s a district win and we’re trying to be 1-0 every night,” Culbreth said.

Up next, FHS (10-0-1) will take on a Hardin Valley team, which ended Farragut’s season last year. So there will be no shortage of motivation when they meet on Friday, April 17.

“That’s going to be an emotional game,” Culbreth said, “but it was good to get back on track with what we expect to do.”