MACON, GA. – The Rail Yard Dawgs won for the sixth consecutive time on Friday night, holding off the Macon Mayhem 5-4 at Macon Coliseum. Josh Nenadal scored twice, Dillon Radin scored once, Jarrad Vroman tallied his first professional goal, and Brady Heppner scored the game-winning goal for Roanoke.
The first six minutes was poor from Roanoke, and a Malcolm Hayes goal at 2:33 gave the Mayhem the early lead. Vroman followed his own rebound for an unassisted equalizer at 8:03 for his first pro tally. Nenadal tipped in a C.J. Valerian shot at 15:45 to make it 2-1, then followed it up with another score at 18:12 to make it 3-1 thanks to assists from Dom Marcinkevics and Dillon Radin. Roanoke held a two-goal lead at the intermission.
Roanoke allowed a power play goal by Macon at 2:09, as its lead dwindled down to 3-2. The Dawgs pushed their cushion back to two at 12:43, as Radin tipped in a laser by Travis Broughman that was also assisted by CJ Stubbs. Roanoke took that 4-2 lead into the final period of play.
The Dawgs were immediately put under duress in the third period, as Macon scored twice in 32 seconds to tie the score at 4-4 just over two minutes into the period. A massive turning point came when Macon’s CJ Hayes was assessed a match penalty for slew-footing, giving the Dawgs a five-minute major power play. Macon held on for more than four minutes of its penalty kill, but Marcinkevics found Heppner at the back door for the go-ahead goal at 6:41. The Dawgs held off the furious Macon comeback for a 5-4 win, their sixth victory in a row dating back to Black Friday.
Roudebush stopped 26-of-30 shots for Roanoke, while Tom Aubrun made 6-of-9 saves for Macon in the first period before Cam Gray made 20 stops on 22 shots faced in relief. The Dawgs were 2-for-3 on the power play, while the Mayhem tallied twice on their four chances.
Roanoke will stay on the road tomorrow at 6:30 p.m. EST against the Macon Mayhem at Macon Coliseum. Season tickets and single-game tickets are available by calling the Rail Yard Dawgs office, visiting the ‘Tickets’ page on our website, or by visiting the Berglund Center box office.
Photo Credit: Ashlie Brammer