Ringgold girls, Heritage boys claim NGAC soccer crowns
Last Monday was a history-making night for the Ringgold Lady Tigers and the Heritage Generals as they claimed North Georgia Athletic Conference soccer tournament championships at Ridgeland High School. found themselves trailing early in the first half.
Heritage dominated possession over the first 10 minutes and had several shot attempts, including one that hit off the crossbar.
But in the 11th minute, a nice long ball got past the Heritage defense. Generals’ keeper Cooper Stallings made a valiant effort to come off his line and get to the loose ball, but Trion got to the ball a split second quicker and a low shot found the left corner of the net for a 1-0 lead.
Undaunted, Heritage continued to apply the pressure over the next 10 minutes and the Generals were finally rewarded with 9:30 left in the first half. An initial shot was stopped, but Brett Simpson blasted home a rebound from 10 yards out the tie the score, 1-1.
Then with 6:15 left before intermission, some chaos in front of the Trion goal left the Bulldogs’ keeper out of position and left Jax Maretti unguarded on the right side of the box. Maretti calmly hit a shot into the opposite corner to give the Generals the lead and he got on the board again with just 40 seconds left before halftime, connecting on a free kick from a tough angle that put Heritage up 3-1 at the break.
Trion made an early push in the second half that results in a couple of dangerous chances, including a ball that had to booted away at the last moment, but the Generals were able to regain control of the contest shortly thereafter.
The final tally came with seven minutes to go as Jett Lewis found Simpson, who scored his second goal of the night. Simpson went on to be named the Most Valuable Player.
Head coach Stacy Dunfee named Gabe Aguillon and Maddox McDaniel as defensive standouts. It marked the first time that the Generals have claimed the league and tournament soccer titles in the same season since 2009.