Gordon Central is at Calhoun Thursday
♦ County schools square off in a soccer doubleheader at Calhoun High
Local high school soccer fans are in for a treat Thursday night when Calhoun hosts Gordon Central in a soccer doubleheader on the Yellow Jackets’ pitch.
The girls teams will play at 5 p.m. with the boys’ game scheduled to kick off at 7 p.m. in the regular season opener for Calhoun. It will the Warriors’ second game of the year after they began their 2023 schedule Monday night at Adairsville.
The Calhoun-Gordon Central match involves two teams who were playoff squads in 2022 but were in different places as programs.
The Warriors, who have not lost a Region game in two years, were 14-2 and went to the Elite Eight under veteran head coach Jeff Wiley while the Yellow Jackets were in their first year under head coach Tino Hernandez, and while they were certainly competitive in going 4-1 in Region 7-5A, they struggled to score with just 15 goals on the year.
Putting the ball in the net was not a problem for the Warriors, but they lost eight starters off a team that won 30 games the past two years, so the newcomers have some big shoes and expectations to fulfill.
The Warriors have a new head man in coach Sam Meunchen and he comes in trying and hoping to keep the program at the level they had risen to the past two years.
Both teams have had their scrimmages and the Yellow Jackets looked like they might have a little more firepower this year than last in scoring four times to defeat a Model team, 4-1, last Friday night in Gordon County.
The Blue Devils have been in the Warriors’ Region the past couple of years and has been one of the few teams to actually challenge them,
Calhoun, stands 3-3 to tip off the week and the Lady Catamounts are the last team in the Region above .500 in league play with Cass 1-5 and Woodland still seeking its first win.
In the latest state rankings,
Calhoun, which was ranked eighth in Georgia in December, has risen to seventh and the Jackets are truly sporting one of the finest win-loss records in the state.
Kell, at 16-5, is the toplisted 5A girls team in the Peach State with Union Grove, which is 17-6, second. Warner-Robins at 19-3 is third in the GHSA and Bradwell
Institute, at 15-3, is fourth. Maynard Jackson is 17-1 and rounds out the top five with Greenbriar at 16-7 sitting sixth and above Calhoun.
Arabia Mountain has the best record of anyone in the top 10 5A ranking at 21-1, but they are ranked eighth this week. Ware County is ninth with a 16-6 mark and Statesboro, which stands 17-5, completes the 5A girls Top 10.