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Whitewater boys take third place in LaGrange tournament

By MICHAEL BOYLAN
mboylan@TheCitizenNews.com

Many of our local soccer teams didn’t just hang out over the recent break. Instead they battled some of the top competitors in the state in several tournaments and the results have to be encouraging for most of the teams.

The Whitewater boys picked up two wins in the LaGrange tournament, including one over Fayette County at Tiger Stadium on Thursday evening. The two wins nabbed third place for the team in their first varsity season and is a big confidence boost for the Wildcats, which is made up solely of freshmen and sophomores.

Kyle Adams scored two goals for Whitewater in their 4-1 win against Fayette County, while Ryan Pugh and Carlos Iturbe notched the team’s other goals. Whitewater came out with a furious attack two goals within the first five minutes of the game. The Wildcats followed the win with a 2-1 loss to Shiloh. Though they outplayed their opponents for most of the game and took another early lead, Whitewater lapsed for several minutes in the second half and found themselves behind 2-1. That was the final score and Shiloh went on to win the tournament.

The final game saw Whitewater beat Carrollton 2-1. Coach Shane Pulliam stated that the team got the ball as close to the goal line without going over at least 15 times. Kyle Weston of the Wildcats scored the first goal off of a penalty kick and Adams scored the go-ahead goal in the second half after Carrollton had tied it.

“We’re close to being a top-notch team but we’re still making mistakes and learning a lot,” said Pulliam. “With a schedule full of us facing top 10 teams, we have a ways to go.” Pulliam mentioned that Ryan Madura, goalkeeper Kenny Cowart, Jordan Cooper and Pugh had a solid weekend in the tournament.

The Wildcats were scheduled to take on Creekside last night after the paper went to press and Pulliam called it a must win if they are to compete in the region and make the state playoffs.

In other games over the break, Whitewater’s Lady Wildcats lost to Fayette County 2-1 and followed it with a 7-0 win and a 3-2 loss. The McIntosh Lady Chiefs defeated South Gwinnett 10-0 and Brookwood 4-1, while the boys team defeated South Gwinnett 5-2 and lost to Brookwood 1-0. In a rematch of last year’s AAAAA boys state final, Starr’s Mill and Brookwood played to a 1-1 tie, while the Lady Panthers beat Brookwood 2-0. Our Lady of Mercy’s boys and girls fell to some top ranked teams. The Lady Bobcats lost to top ranked Pace 6-0 while the boys lost to sixth ranked Walker 10-0.