By MICHAEL BOYLAN
mboylan@TheCitizenNews.com

McIntosh hosted Starr's Mill on Saturday night for a set of soccer games between the two schools soccer teams. All four teams are ranked near the top of the classification and were looking to send a message of county dominance to their opponents. The two schools split on Saturday night, only to further enhance the ongoing debate about local soccer supremacy.

The boys game was played first and remained scoreless at the half. Both teams had several excellent opportunities in the first half, but it appeared as if overtime would be the likely outcome. Starr's Mill's Sammy Chang stopped those thoughts by scoring 25 minutes in to the second half and giving the Panthers a 1-0 lead. The Panthers got two more goals shortly therafter from Robert Cooper, giving Starr's Mill a huge 3-0 win.

McIntosh, still ranked and still at the top of region 4-AAAA, played there other county rivals, the Fayette County Tigers on Tuesday. Next wekend they will host the Mcintosh Classic and will have teams from all over the southeast participating. Starr's Mill will play the Woodward Academy War Eagles on Friday night.

The girls game was a battle between the top ranked team of AAAA, McIntosh, against the top ranked team of AAA, Starr's Mill. The game live up to all of it's hype. Like the boys game, the score was tied at the half. Both teams made good atempts on offense and great stops on defense, but it was a stalemate.

The second half began with a goal by McIntosh's Julie Herdic. Kacy Murray of Starr's Mill tied the score a few minutes later by scoring off of a penalty kick, but Herdic scored again to give McIntosh the lead and the win. Herdic currently leads the region in scoring and was invaluable in the win. Starr's Mill got a little bad news along with the loss. Alison graham was injured early in the second half and will be out for at least the next few games.

The Lady Panthers had a rematch of last year's state championship match on Tuesday night as they met Marist. They will face the Woodward Academy Lady War Eagles on Thursday evening. McIntosh will play against the Griffin Lady Bears on Friday night.

In other action last weekend, Friday night saw the Sandy Creek boys defeat Jonesboro, 6-3, while the Fayette County Lady Tigers defeated Houston County, 4-0. The Lady Chiefs also played on Friday night and won over Upson-Lee by a score of 4-1.