Piedmont Soccer Boys Earn Win
Piedmont Academy’s boys soccer team defeated Heritage on the road in Newnan 5-1 and Christian Heritage of Dalton 1-0 at home in recent action.
In Saturday’s match with Christian Heritage, the contest was scoreless at halftime in what coach Dwain Landress described as a “physical contest.” Bobby Mitchell had to move into goal after Rhett Roberts was injured by a cleat to his head, which required numerous staples. Roberts would eventually return from the hospital and, after obtaining a new jersey, re-enter the game.
“That gave our team a boost,” Landress said. “We became the aggressor.” Sam Cleary scored the match’s one goal on a penalty kick from 25 yards out.
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Piedmont’s defense then held on for its second consecutive region win. It was the first region loss for Christian Heritage.
Two days earlier the Cougars defeated Heritage after building a four-goal halftime lead. Davis Kimball and Austin Bass both scored two goals and Roberts was solid in goal holding the opponent scoreless. Malik Reid added the final goal for Piedmont.
The Cougars tied Gatewood Tuesday night 2-2. Cleary scored one goal on a penalty kick while Gabe Courtman added another. Piedmont trailed 1-0 at halftime and 2-0 at one point before rallying to even the score. Since it was a non-region match, overtime was not used.
The Lady Cougars fell 8-3 to Heritage but rebounded for a 2-1 victory Saturday and a 3-1 victory Tuesday.
In the win against Heritage Christian, Jordon Blackmon scored both goals.
“We needed to get that win and I think we will build off of it,” Landress said.
Like the boys’ contest, the girls’ game was very physical and Hailey Burnham suffered a broken bone in her ankle.
In Tuesday’s win against Gatewood, Lanie King scored a hat trick and Carley Cain had a solid performance in goal. Against Heritage last week, the Lady Cougars faced the second-ranked team in the state.
“We started the game playing well,” Landress said. “We were actually dominating. We went up 1-0 and had them on their heels.
They were not used to being behind.” Heritage rebounded to lead 5-3 at halftime which frustrated the Lady Cougars.
Mary Ashlynn Dennis scored two goals and Lanie King added one for Piedmont.
Audrey Cleary was recognized for playing solid defense against the opponent’s top player.
“If that’s one of the top two teams in the state, then I have no doubt we can beat them,” Landress said.
Piedmont is now off until after spring break.