SOCCER: West Laurens girls, boys get postseason traction with wins over Bainbridge, Howard

Wednesday’s second of back-to-back playoff wins, at separate sites on separate nights, had West Laurens head soccer coach Nate Smith racking his brain to recall if, and how long ago, both the school’s girls and boys teams had ever won a state playoff game in the same year. 

The girls defeated Bainbridge 1-0 on Tuesday, and the boys Howard by a 3-0 final Wednesday, to make some likely history (recent, at least) in advancing together to next week’s round of 16. 

Though the two programs have had their separate playoff runs – the deepest for the girls back under head coach Colby Taylor over a decade and a half ago, and the boys’ just a few years back with their first trip to the quarters in 2022 – few, if any, have occurred simultaneously. 

That footnote, along with two distinct postseason victories that experience has proven tough to earn even with the best of teams, made both the week’s results especially satisfying. 

“We’ve been knocked out early the last couple years, so it’s nice,” Smith said. “To me, in this kind of tournament, you win one game and you’ve made a little run… It’s nice to win the first one. It makes you feel like you belong. When you get bounced in the first one, it’s a tough pill to swallow.” 

Howard’s boys didn’t let any of the eight matches it lost this year get away by any margin bigger than three goals. So it was fitting that the same number decided Wednesday night’s rematch, as the Huskies once again lived up to a season-long reputation for being tough to put away that held true both times the Raiders faced them in the regular season. 

They used a tiebreaking goal with about three minutes to go to win the first go-round 2-1 at The SHU Feb. 12. Last month, West Laurens won in slightly more convincing fashion, but still needed a trifecta in the second half to seal its 3-1 victory in Macon. 

Howard, which finished outside the region’s top four but qualified at-large to gain the 30th of 32 seeds in the bracket, hung around until near the end in this one as well by playing some more of the pesky defense that kept the Raiders from shaking them off in either of the first two games, confirming why the once-beaten 4-AAA champions were less than thrilled to draw a rematch in their postseason debut. 

“For us, it’s really all about the tempo of the game. If we can get tempo, that helps,” Smith said. “That’s one of the things that they’re really good at taking away is our tempo. We tried to do a few different attacking styles that worked, but we didn’t capitalize on it too much. Some of it was just straight hustle, too. 

“They’re a good team. To have to play them a third time kind of sucked.” 

But the unyielding Raiders found ways to capitalize at more of the key moments, starting with the break, and breakthrough, they were waiting for late in the first half. The rest of the night, continuing with two add-on goals in the early part of the second, proceeded ever more gradually in their direction. 

Howard had its square wheels on to keep the cart from getting anywhere quickly as it stacked defenders deep on the back end to start the match, and dug in hard to weather one of the fiercest West Laurens sieges of the night for about 15 minutes following their early sortie into the home half just off the opening kick. 

The Huskies’ determination to give nothing up easily was so resolute that their midfielder Waki Kiza – in one instance – would voice frustration at having to send a throw-in toward his own goal with no teammates willing to yield their position to run upfield after the Raiders lost a ball out of bounds. 

Howard goalkeeper Eduardo Leiva secured or knocked away most every airborne ball that was up for heads in the box off of crosses, corners or throws. 

West Laurens likely credited its best chances to some situations in which it lured the Huskies’ back liners upfield in hopes of drawing an offside flag on the inevitable long passes to speedsters who timed things up perfectly, but were off the mark on shots that mostly flew high and rattled the football goalposts. 

The Huskies were on track to keep the board blank through the half, and would have if not for a hiccup with about 10 minutes to go. 

A simple oversight opened the door wide for the Raiders as Leiva handled a routine save, and – assuming the coast was clear – dropped the ball with intent to kick it away without noticing a late-closing West Laurens defender who charged in with designs on pulling a fast one. 

Leiva, in a bind, opted to dive and cover the ball back up, inadvertently committing soccer’s equivalent of a double-dribble. 

“The keeper can’t grab it, drop it and then pick it up again all in the same motion,” Smith said. “It’s got to touch somebody else in between the two things.” 

The situation resulted in a rarely seen free kick from point-blank range, as officials – following a short conference to confirm that a Raider had not in fact touched the ball – placed it at the spot of the violation near the penalty kick hash. 

Howard, which was free to obstruct the shooting line, arranged every defender possible a step in front of the goal. But the Raiders found an easy solution to the puzzle by tapping the ball a few yards to the side with their initial touch to create alternate angle for Yearwood, who thumped it straight in.

The Huskies continued to play unrelenting defense, and put several shots on goal that West Laurens keeper R.T. Gilder (in for a recently banged-up Clyde Warren) took care of with no problem in a balanced first few minutes out of the halftime retreat. 

But the Raiders got it back down to the other end in no time to resume their regular barrage of shots. 

Soon enough, they’d strike again. 

After a few missed chances, Yearwood played a long one into the box for Joe Powell, who put the ball back after his kick from just in front of the net rebounded off of Leiva’s hands. The second try made it by him, and the lead  was 2-0. 

Momentum was slowly tipping, but didn’t tumble as Howard clung to a bit of remaining life, and held off the Raiders’ efforts to add on for about 10 more minutes. Dalton Oxford connected on a shot from straight away, about 20 yards out, to put the match in hand. 

The Huskies, coming up empty on a few final chances, were unable to get a late consolation goal as the last 20 brought an end to their strongest season (10-8, 7-7 region 4-AAA) in a decade. 

Tuesday’s game was an even lower-scoring staring contest for the West Laurens girls, who held off a number of big threats form Bainbridge to keep the match scoreless through halftime. 

Goalkeeper Natalie Howell took several Bearcat shots captive and K.K. Wilson cleared another one out off a late first-half free kick. 

The Lady Raiders were still biding their time, in search of a chance to make their move, as time wound down in the second half. 

That moment arrived just inside of the 10-minute mark, just after Kristin Ivey had a good-looking shot deflected wide left. 

She got another chance, though from a tough angle, as she hit one toward the near post while going step-for-step with a primary and secondary defender in the right short corner. 

Ivey kept just enough clearance to get the shot off around both purple shirts. The Bainbridge keeper, though arriving in plenty of time, couldn’t handle it cleanly, and the ball glanced into the net with eight minutes to go. 

“It was a counter attack,” Smith said. “We were playing defensive, and they were pretty high. We made a couple of passes down the field and Kristin did what she does, and that’s score in big games. She is a really talented player for us. And she has a knack for scoring goals in big games.” 

Bainbridge’s Kinsley Kirkland sent a free kick over the top with about three left that represented its last chance in the match, and the Lady Raiders (12-8, 9-5 region 4-AAA) hung on for the win that will bring them back home for the second round on Tuesday. 

It’ll be the 28th seed Heritage, of Ringgold, that knocked off No. 5 Peach County to save them from another road trip, and make the second-round action twice as nice for the Raider nation on back-to-back evenings at the SHU. 

Those two will be played on separate nights. The girls will welcome Heritage on Tuesday, and the boys are pitted against Peach Wednesday.

“We’re pretty stoked to have two home games,” Smith said.