It was a physical game from start to finish as Swansboro worked hard to take down Clinton’s Horses Wednesday night and secure a place near the top of the 2A conference. But the Dark Horses would have none of it, fighting back in overtime to get the 1-0 win.

“There was a lot of hustle and a lot of heart tonight from both these teams,” said coach Brad Spell. “I thought our guys played some good soccer tonight, especially in the overtime period.”

Clinton out shot Swansboro 9 to 3 on goal during the evening.

With the intensity at a peak, the two teams battled hard, holding each other scoreless through regulation. It wasn’t until about 8 minutes into the second OT that Clinton’s Trent Emmanuel hit pay dirt off an assist by Wil Pearson to put the Horses on the board and give them the eventual win.

“This was a gut-check tonight,” Spell said. “It was a hard-fought, physical competition.”

The Horses, still a half-game ahead of Topsail in the race to the No. 1 spot in the conference, remained ranked fifth in the state as they head Thursday to Richlands for a makeup game from last week.

If the Horses do what they are supposed to do against Richlands Thursday, Spell said, then Monday’s game against Topsail could very well be for the regular season title.

“But we’ve got to take care of business in Richlands first,” Spell said.

With the win Wednesday, Clinton moves to 12-4-1 overall and 7-0-1 in conference play. They travel to Richlands Thursday for a 6:30 p.m. game, then face Topsail on Monday.