Effingham County takes down Houston County in first round of playoffs
The Effingham County Rebels overcame an early deficit to defeat Houston County 2-1 in the GHSA Class AAAAA girls state soccer playoffs Wednesday afternoon.
Molly Boone scored on a penalty kick for the Rebels late in the first half and Cat Hall scored in the 59th minute to give the Rebels the lead, and they withstood a furious attempt by the Bears in the final 10 minutes to advance to the next round of the playoffs.
THREE WHO MATTERED
Breanna Gomez: The Houston County senior put her team up with a remarkable goal from the far left corner in the fourth minute of the game, but that was all the Bears could manage offensively as a great defensive effort by Effingham County prevailed.
Sydney Martinez: The sophomore keeper from Effingham County was solid all game and kept the Bears scoreless after the early goal.
Effingham County defense: Salena Osborne, MacKenzie Stewart, and Makayla Mazarelo, along with Martinez, came up big on defense. In the final 12 minutes alone, Houston County had several corner kicks and other chances at net, but the defenders were up to the challenge.
OBSERVATION
Defense wins: Perhaps the biggest stop of the game was Martinez turning back a great shot by Jamya Spivey in the right corner with 2:25 left in the game, but she also had others. She plucked a Gomez corner out of the air when several Houston County players were airborne attempting a header.
THEY SAID IT
Houston County head coach Eric DeVoursney on the late first-half penalty kick: I think it probably deflated us a little bit because we had outplayed them for most of the half and then we went in at 1-1. But that’s really no excuse. We had our chances, but that was probably the best keeper (Martinez) we have seen all year.”
Devoursney, in his first year as the head coach, on getting beat in the first round: “I think we are all surprised and we thought we were ready to make a run in the playoffs. We did not take Effingham for granted, but I think we all thought we would win the game. We only have two seniors on the team, so hopefully we will learn from it.”
Effingham County head coach Blake Kessler on giving up the early goal: “I think we gave up a goal on a great shot and that happens, but I was proud of the way we responded after that. I knew we would come in and battle, and we did not come here thinking we were going to lose”.
Kessler on playing on a much smaller field at Houston County than what they are used to: “This field is like a postage stamp compared to our field, and I think that playing on a big field all year has us in great shape. I know it was their home field but I thought that the small field actually helped us.”
This story was originally published April 27, 2016 at 9:51 PM with the headline "Effingham County takes down Houston County in first round of playoffs."