GHSA soccer playoffs: Rewards and challenges increase in each round

The four area boys soccer teams playing in the Georgia High School Association state playoffs passed their first tests last week.

But winning a state title requires passing five such tests, and they increase in difficulty as the number of teams playing decreases.

In today’s second round, North Murray and Southeast Whitfield host games, while Dalton and Northwest Whitfield hit the road in hopes of continuing their quests. In Class 2A, North Murray hosts Toombs County at 5:30 p.m. In Class 3A, Southeast takes on Cairo at 4 p.m. and Dalton is at Houston County’s Veterans at 6:30 p.m. In Class 4A, Northwest is at Houston County at 6 p.m.

Here’s a glance at each second-round matchup:

Dalton

The match between the Catamounts, the Region 7-3A runners-up, and Region 2 champion could be the most evenly matched in the second round of the 3A bracket.

Veterans (16-1-1) beat Crisp County 10-0 in the first round and is ranked sixth in eurosportscoreboard.com’s Class 3A coaches poll. Dalton (15-3) beat Johnson-Gainesville 5-3 in the first round and is ranked seventh.

Cats coach Matt Cheaves said he doesn’t look too much into rankings, and often has acknowledged the possibility of any team going down at any point — but even he believes the two teams are about as level as can be.

“Absolutely,” he said. “They’ve got a great record and have done well, and so have we. The spot we’re at in the bracket, it looks like every step of the way we’re going to have a challenge.”

Cheaves touted Veterans as “a big physical team with good speed” and a striker who can carry the team with goals.

“One of the things we need to do better than last game is pressuring the ball,” Cheaves said, noting that might have made a difference in the number of goals allowed against Johnson.

“One was kind of fluky off a deflection and two were outside shots. On one there wasn’t any pressure on (the player) and the other was pretty long range and the goalie might not have seen it until it was too late to react.”

North Murray

The Mountaineers have a 13-2 record, won the Region 7-2A title and advanced to the second round for the second straight year with a 2-1 win against Dawson County this past Thursday. Toombs County, which beat Berrien 3-2 in the first round, is just 3-13-1 and finished third in Region 2.

“On paper, their record is not very good,” Mountaineers coach Matt Chambers said. “But a lot of their losses came against Class 4A schools. They have speed but they aren’t very tall so they rely on the long ball like we do.”

Chambers added that he feels his team has more explosive talent on the roster.

“I don’t think they have the breakout players that we do,” Chambers said.

Still, he believes the Mountaineers’ success or failure in the playoffs comes down to whether they work as 11 individuals or a team.

“The kids have great athletic ability, but they have to learn how to play together and think through the game,” Chambers said. “I’d like an 80-minute game where we have a full-on team win. We did that once against River Ridge and we destroyed them, and River Ridge is a good team.”

North Murray won the school’s first varsity region team title in any sport with a shootout victory against Calhoun last month. If the Mountaineers win in the second round, they will host the Bleckley County-Westminster winner in a matchup to decide who advances to the semifinals.

A win today would also represent the deepest run into the state playoffs for any North Murray team in the school’s three-year existence. Boys soccer advanced to the second round last season, and boys tennis and softball have also made appearances in the second round, but no North Murray team has reached the third round in a state playoffs bracket.

Northwest

Unlike the Cats, the Bruins already have overcome one road trip during this postseason. Northwest (13-5), the Region 7-4A No. 3 seed, was the first area school to advance to the second round after a 1-0 win at Flowery Branch this past Tuesday.

Next on the agenda is a trip to Region 1 champion Houston County, which beat Region 2 No. 4 seed Evans 4-0 in the first round. The Bears are ranked 10th in Class 4A and plays a “similar style” to Northwest, Bruins coach Ryan Scoggins said.

“They do a lot of quick passing, play a 4-3-3 system with three strikers up front, and all three strikers have ridiculous stats with scoring goals,” he said. “They like to put a lot of pressure on you coming forward with their attack and overwhelming the defense.”

The key for Northwest is taking advantage of Houston County’s aggression, perhaps catching them up too far or getting too greedy, Scoggins said.

“When you play a team that does like to play so far forward, there are going to be holes and we have to find them when we get the opportunity for a counter attack when we gain possession,” he said.

While happy with his team’s first-round win, Scoggins believes the Bruins might have put up more goals.

“You certainly would like to clean everything up round to round,” Scoggins said. “Against Flowery Branch, I felt like we did play really well,” he said. Just coming away with one goal, I think we had some other good chances to score. We ended up hitting the post twice.”

Houston County, the Region 1 champion, has a 16-1 record, with the loss coming against Columbus. Northwest’s win in the previous round was the program’s first state playoff win and set a program record for wins in a season.

Southeast

The Raiders entered the playoffs as Class 3A’s top-ranked squad, and they hold that title heading into the second-round matchup against Cairo, the Region 1 No. 2 seed and a 3-2 winner over Peach County in the first round.

Southeast coach Jamison Griffin believes the Raiders’ next opponents have size, speed and a capable offense. To combat that, Griffin wants his players to control possession and keep the ball moving with quick passes.

“They are big and have some speed and have a really strong striker up top,” Griffin said. “We’re just going to try and play the way we always play, which is moving the ball down the field and playing it quickly to one another.”

Southeast shut out Region 8 No. 4 seed North Hall 5-0 in the first round. Griffin called it “one of our better performances” of the season, and it came after what Griffin called a disappointing 0-0 tie in the season finale against Chattanooga’s Baylor.

Responding to a disappointing game with a good one has been a common occurrence for this Raiders team, Griffin said, and the strength of Region 7 has helped get Southeast into the mindset of rising to the challenge of high-intensity atmospheres.

“(North Hall) was not a bad team,” Griffin said. “Top to bottom, the teams from Region 8 are pretty even. That just goes to show you because Dalton’s scoreline and ours shows how strong out region is.”

If the Raiders win, they again will be the home team in a quarterfinals matchup against the Drew-St. Pius X winner. The winner of that match will advance to the semifinals; the Raiders have reached that round each of the past two seasons and three times in the previous four years.

Dalton High School Catamounts

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GHSA soccer playoffs: Rewards and challenges increase in each round

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