State-ranked Titans up next for WCHS

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  • Chloe Shea slips by a Banks County defender during the Lady Warriors 10-1 win. (Photos/Mark Turner)
    Chloe Shea slips by a Banks County defender during the Lady Warriors 10-1 win. (Photos/Mark Turner)
  • Eli Palmer pushes past a defender during the 7-1 win over Banks County.
    Eli Palmer pushes past a defender during the 7-1 win over Banks County.
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On Friday, the White County soccer teams host one of the most important doubleheaders of the season when Blessed Trinity comes to town for a pair of Region 7-AAAA matches.

Blessed Trinity, a traditional power Class AAAA, brings a pair of state-ranked teams the regular season matchup.

In the girls' matchup, the Lady Titans are currently ranked fourth in the latest Top 10 eurosportboard.com poll. The Lady Titans are 6-1-2 on the year, with region wins over Chestatee (9-0) and Denmark (4-0). The Lady Warriors are 7-2, with a 2-0 record in region play after knocked off Denmark 1-0 last Friday night on the road and a win over West Hall earlier in the season.

The Lady Warriors have been on a roll recently, winning six straight games. The Lady Warriors own a 28-1 scoring advantage during the winning streak.

Despite playing well over the past couple of weeks, WCHS head coach Megan Runkle said the squad will have to take it to the next level against the Lady Titans.

“We didn't play our best game against Denmark,” Runkle said. “We had a lot of chances that we didn't take advantage of. We had a lot of shots, but they were either off the frame or straight at the keeper. We'll have to play better against Blessed Trinity. They are a good team.”

In the boys' game, the Warriors will be hunting their first region win of the season after dropping matches to Denmark and West Hall.

The Titans come onto the game ranked No. 4 in the state, despite having a 5-3-1 record so for this season. The Titans dropped a 2-1 decision to Denmark last week when the Danes scored the winning game with 18 seconds left in the second overtime period, and are 1-1 in league play with a win over Chestatee (2-1).

WC blasts Banks

On Tuesday, the WCHS squads posted a pair of big wins over Banks County in a non-region doubleheader.

The Lady Warriors rolled to their sixth consecutive win, blasting the Lady Leopards 10-0 in a game ended by the mercy rule, while the Warriors followed suit with a 7-1 bashing.

In the girls contest, Ada Smith and Leah Alexander started things with early goals, and then the flood gates opened for the Lady Warriors in the final 10 minutes of the first half. Hope Thomas fired a shot from the left of the 18-yard box that was deflected by the Banks' keeper. McKinley Jones came up with the rebound and put it in the net for a 3-0 lead with 9:59 to go in the half.

Less than two minutes later, Thomas made a crossing pass into the box, and after a several players touched the ball, Jones came up with another goal, scoring from point-blank range for a 4-0 lead.

A minute later, Rachel Harris found Thomas on the left side, and Thomas lofted a lob shot over the keeper's head and into the far corner of the net for a 5-0 advantage. Thomas scored again later in the half, taking crossing pass from Anna Tatum, and drilling a shot off the bottom of the cross bar and into the net for a 6-0 lead with 4:03 left in the half.

With 2:24 left in the half, Ramey scored off a corner kick from Skylar Williams, putting a shot just inside the corner post for a 7-0 lead.

Less than two minutes into the second half, Harris got off a shot from close range that was deflected by the Banks' keeper, and the ball bounced directly to Ramey, who finished the play off with her second goal of the game for an 8-0 lead. Two minutes later, Reese Vandegriff scored off a pass from Ramey for a 9-0 advantage.

With 15 minutes left on the clock, Liz Williams played a perfect corner kick from the left side that grazed off Thomas for the Lady Warriors' final goal, ending the match at 10-0.

In the boys' game with the Leopards, the Warriors opened things with three goals in the first half and then added four more in the final 40 minutes to post the 7-1 win.

The Warriors controlled the pace from the opening kick, and 13 minutes into the game, Iyan Windham picked up a loose ball near midfield and worked his way through the Leopards' defense before putting a shot in the back of the net for a 1-0 lead.

Four minutes later, the Warriors pushed another attack deep into the Leopards' defense, and Andrew Pierce came up with goal from short range to make it 2-0 with 23 minutes left in the first half.

Later in half, Pierce came up with his second goal of the night, beating a defender on the left side and ripping shot past the Leopards' keeper for a 3-0 at intermission.

The Warriors needed less than eight minutes in the second half to extend the lead to 4-0. Eli Palmer did the honors, scoring from close range to give the Warriors total control of the match.

The Warriors finished things off with three more goals, with Trey Morris, Pierce, and Dominic Stevens adding goals. Stevens, who plays on the Warriors' backline, moved up to the front of the attack during the final minutes of the match and knocked home a goal with 37 seconds left on the clock.

Denmark split

WCHS split a pair of region matches with Denmark last week in Alpharetta. The games were originally scheduled to be played in Cleveland, but the recent heavy rainfall left the playing field at Warrior Stadium in disarray, so the game was to the Danes' turf field.

The Lady Warriors didn't come up with their best effort against Denmark, but thanks to an early goal and some stellar defense, WCHS was able to come home with 1-0 win.

“It wasn't our best effort,” Runkle said. “But a win is a win. We missed a lot of (scoring) opportunities, but we played good defense and (keeper) Ansley Seabolt made some saves.”

The Lady Warriors jumped out quickly, getting a goal off a free kick set. Skylar Williams ripped the free kick into the goalie, but Denmark's keeper misplayed the ball, and Thomas scored of the rebound for a 1-0 lead. The lone goal turned out to be the game-winner.

In the boys' contest, the No. 8 Danes posted a 7-0 win over the Warriors.