Road Warriors: Indians, Dragons stay alive

Eight boys’ teams are left in the GHSA Class AA state soccer playoffs. Three of them are from Floyd County.

A day after Model’s boys punched their ticket to the quarterfinals, Armuchee and Pepperell each turned out upsets on the road to join th e Blue Devils as the Region 7-AA representatives in the Elite Eight.

Armuchee completed a 3-2 comeback against South Atlanta in the Sweet Sixteen on Wednesday, while Pepperell got a huge effort from back-up goalkeeper Tony Sucuqui on the way to a 1-0 victory at Lamar County. Both games pitted the Floyd County teams against region champions.

After South Atlanta got out to an early 2-0 lead, the Indians (14-5-1) went on to score the next three goals. Christopher Castro scored the first one to make it 2-1 at halftime, while Davis Yeargan and Simon Wilson each scored in the second half.

Armuchee, which began the playoffs as the No. 3 seed from 7-AA, got two assists from Malachi Campbell, and Alex Lyle recorded six saves. The Indians travel to Savannah on Saturday to face defending state champion Benedictine at 4 p.m.

Pepperell went with Sucuqui after regular starting keeper Andrew Wilder came up sick prior to the Dragons’ Sweet Sixteen match. The junior recorded seven saves and preserved Pepperell’s 10th shutout of the season.

The Dragons got on the board in the first half when Landon Camp scored on a cross from Ivan Sandoval in the 18th minute. The Region 7-AA runners-up will play at Thomasville on Saturday, with first kick set for 2 p.m.

Model’s boys will be in action tonight as they host Jeff Davis at 7:30 p.m. following the Model girls’ team’s 5:30 p.m. match against East Laurens. Contributed by Karen Abney

Armuchee’s Davis Yeargan (19) celebrates after scoring against South Atlanta in the Class AA Sweet 16 on Wednesday.