SOCCER ROUNDUP: Hephzibah sweep has West Laurens boys closing in on region title

In order to go ahead and lock down the region 4-AAA championship, the West Laurens boys needed Richmond Academy to defeat Aquinas as they added another routine victory to their unbeaten season in a return from spring break Tuesday night at The SHU. 

That business, as best the Raiders could tell, was still unfinished as they did a little scoreboard-watching while leaving the field following an 11-1 thrashing of Hephzibah to complete a senior night sweep, with eyes on their regular-season finale against the Irish Thursday in Augusta. 

“We want to see what’s going on with the Aquinas game,” said Raiders head coach Nate Smith. “But that doesn’t mean we’re not wanting to beat Aquinas, because we owe them something at their house if we can.” 

There was good reason that updates were hard to come by, as the Irish and Musketeers battled through regulation and two overtimes with no score, before a penalty kick shootout gave Aquinas a win critical to its continuing region title chances, which will now hinge on the outcome of Thursday’s showdown with West, postponed from mid-March by weather, that won’t exactly be a winner-take-all. 

The Raiders (18-0, 13-0 region 4-AAA), who defeated Aquinas 3-1 at home earlier in the season, own enough tiebreakers that they can afford to lose by the same margin, and potentially a larger one, and still emerge as region champ. 

But with a chance to complete a perfect regular season and clinch outright with a victory, not to mention settling a score from last year (when the Irish handed them a 5-0 shutout for their first loss of 2025) that makes this the final stop on their revenge tour, they have ample motivation not to leave things up to any variables outside their direct control. 

Tuesday’s home finale, in which West Laurens picked up right where it left off before spring break to score 11 goals (giving up just one via PK late in the second half) in 71 minutes, was the type of locked-in performance that confirms it’s going to be one of the teams to beat when the state playoffs begin next week. 

The Raiders, who maintain the only perfect record in AAA, topped the classification’s GHSA Post Season Ratings as of late Tuesday night, and opened the week ranked No. 5 in the state coach’s poll. 

“I think winning is a learned behavior, and this team just knows how to win,” Smith said. “They just grind at practice. They take it seriously. And I think just knowing how to win a close game is something that they’ve learned in the offseason when they play club, and it has just carried over tremendously.” 

The Westside boys held a 6-0 lead through a half, but carried their momentum through the match’s 30-ish remaining minutes as many of their top starters checked out of the game, or settled back into more defensive roles. 

Payton Everly, Alex Derochie and Clark Nelson were among the scorers credited with adding to the lead as it grew as large as 9-0 before Hephzibah snuck one in from the line off a whistle with around 20 minutes left. 

Two more, both off of odd deflections, on a corner kick then a true own-goal bumped home inadvertently by a defender for the clincher with just above nine minutes left ended the match early. 

The Raiders won’t start looking ahead to their postseason draw until after Thursday’s match, in which they’ll have a nice sized chip on their shoulder. 

And though he’s convinced this team has what it takes, Smith is taking nothing for granted when it comes to their potential for a run. 

“Long gone are the times when the 1 seed plays the 4 seed and beats them 10-0 and has an early exit, out of the game. Those don’t happen anymore,” he said. “I’ve said since they put in the power rankings, and I wasn’t 100 percent sure if it was a good thing or not, but you are going to play quality opponents all the time. I’m hoping that we’ll finish strong and have home-field advantage. But the 32 seed, from what I’ve been seeing, has not really been looking all that easy.

“We can hang our hat on maybe being No. 1 in the state for a little bit, but it doesn’t mean that you’re going to get a cakewalk in the first round.” 

The West Laurens girls (12-7, 9-4 in region) collected their 10-1 win over Hephzibah Tuesday on an abbreviated timetable, with a flurry of early goals putting things away quite quickly. 

Though their season has seen some ups and downs, the Lady Raiders have played strong soccer against a lot of good opponents. 

Smith looks ahead to Thursday’s matchup, against a Lady Irish squad his team only slightly got the best of earlier this spring, as a preview of the level of postseason competition they’ll face in the opening round – likely on the road, though a step or two up in power rankings (from a spot presently at 20th, and third in the region) might permit them a chance to also host next week. 

“It has been more of a grind for them,” he said. “We have been trying to put in a specific style of play, and we’ve held their feet to the fire. And so they’re learning and they’re getting better, but it just hasn’t been consistent enough. But I’m proud of the season they’ve put together. They’ve had some really big wins. Going to Aquinas will really set the tone for us going into the playoffs, and I’m really looking forward to that.” 

In the rest of the county’s early-week soccer action, East Laurens and Dublin were both swept by non-region opponents, the Falcons by Fitzgerald at home and Irish against Vidalia on the road. 

The Eastside girls were edged 3-1 as the Purple Hurricane scored twice in a four-minute span late in the second half. 

Amari Kellam, though, helped them capitalize on a situation with numbers just above the box as a trio of gold jerseys refused to give up despite having the ball knocked out of their control a couple of times with about three minutes left in the opening half. 

Kellam finally had one set up favorably, and knocked one home to even the score at a goal each going to the break. 

But Fitzgerald kept the Lady Falcons (8-9, 5-3 region 2-High A) off the board from there, and scored twice in a row just under the 15 minute mark to pull it out. 

The Hurricane, a 5-0 winner in the boys’ match, had two goals in the first eight minutes before East Laurens (9-7, 4-3 region) stabilized things defensively. 

The Falcons were 94 seconds from getting that 2-0 deficit to the half when Fitzgerald struck on a long header via cross from the corner, and went up by three just before intermission. 

The Canes added a goal early and late in the second half to expand its lead to the final margin. 

East Laurens (whose girls are 43rd and boys 32nd in the current Class A PSRs, both squarely in line to make the playoffs) will travel to play Vidalia in its final matches of the regular season Thursday. 

Dublin journeyed to take on the Indians Tuesday at Buck Cravey Field, and was held scoreless in both stanzas of the sweep. The Lady Irish (4-11, 2-5 region 2-High A, PSR 58 fell by a count of 3-0. The Dublin boys (3-9, 1-5 region, PSR 53) were defeated 5-0. 

Both teams are scheduled to close out region play at ACE Charter on Thursday in Macon. 

Trinity’s teams added four wins in their post-spring break returns to action Monday and Tuesday, with road wins at Robert Toombs and Covenant. 

The Lady Crusaders (11-1, 9-0 region) were led by a hat trick from Addie Kendrick as they prevailed 4-1 Monday in Lyons. Maeson Brantley added the fourth goal, and Ava Hobbs and Maddy George chalked up assists. 

Another hat trick by Kendrick (who also had a pair of assists), plus one by Brinley Vinson, headlined a 10-0 shutout of the Rams Tuesday in Macon. Abby Gillis added two scores, and Bristol Batchelor and Chloe Rozier one each to the count, while George was also credited with four assists in the tally. 

The Crusader boys (8-2-1, 7-0 region) won 7-2 at RTCA, and 10-0 at Covenant. They were led Monday night by the three goals of Brooks Barrs. 

Jagger George and Josh Mosley added tow each for Trinity’s seven, while Parker Smith provided two assists. Both Austin Caraway and Hudson Shirley saw time in goal, and they combined for five saves. 

No details were available at press time from Tuesday’s match at Covenant. 

Both Trinity clubs will return to action Friday at Central Fellowship.