FRIDAY PLAYOFFS: MA girls, boys advances to soccer semis; Autauga baseball moves on
The Montgomery Academy girls and boys soccer teams advanced to the semifinals in AHSAA soccer on Friday. (Tim Gayle)
By TIM GAYLE
In a game where scoring was at a premium, Leighton Robertson’s goal with 3.3 seconds remaining in the first half was too much for St. James.
The Montgomery Academy senior took a pass from Virginia Meacham and headed in a goal just ahead of the halftime horn for the Eagles’ second goal and the defense took over from there in a 3-0 victory over the Trojans at McLemore Field on Friday night.
“I think it was really good by Virginia Meacham to get that thrown in nice and quick as the clock was rolling down and we know what Leighton is good at,” Montgomery Academy coach Joe White said. “She attacks the ball. She got a piece of the ball and put it in with three seconds on the clock and I think that was vital in this game.”
The matchup was the first quarterfinal meeting ever between two women’s soccer programs in the River Region. St. James, making its first quarterfinal appearance since 2003, was meeting area rival Montgomery Academy for the third time this season. Montgomery Academy, making its 18th quarterfinal appearance in the last 23 years, advanced to the semifinals of the state playoffs for the 13thconsecutive time.
“I really feel like that was going to be your state finals,” St. James coach Charlie Brightwell said. “Two really good groups, two groups that played hard, hard, hard, played with their guts tonight, but we came up a couple of bounces short. But I couldn’t be more proud of the girls.”
Montgomery Academy (18-0-1) advances to the 4A-5A state tournament in Huntsville and will face John Carroll (10-9-1) in a semifinal meeting on Thursday at the Huntsville Soccer Complex. St. James (13-5) lost for the third time this year to Montgomery Academy, losing 2-1 on April 1 and 3-0 on April 13.
“Playing against a team three times is never easy, it doesn’t matter who you play,” White said. “You’ve beaten them the first two times, the third time is always tougher and we saw that in the first half. It was a very cagey game, chaotic, but we scored two goals because of the quality of our players.
“All year our back four, our midfielders, do their job defensively. We pride ourselves in making sure we keep a shutout. We’ve only conceded six goals all year, we haven’t conceded any since we played St. James the first time.”
The Eagles broke a scoreless tie 20 minutes into the contest when Robertson headed on for Hayes Jenkins. Five minutes into the second half, the Eagles added the game’s final goal when Meacham’s free kick was blocked by goal keeper Kaelyn Morgan but Jenkins followed with a kick for her second goal of the game.
“We tried to reinvent ourselves a little after the last loss,” Brightwell said, “because we sat back and were too passive so we tried to be a little more take charge, put the ball down and connect because we’re not an overly big, tall, physical group and they’ve got more height than we do so we knew we needed to take some of the physicality out of the game.”
With five minutes remaining in the first half, the Trojans mounted several consecutive shots on goal but Norah Desautels was up to the task of preserving the shutout, setting up Robertson’s momentum-changing shot minutes later.
“We started to find a little rhythm,” Brightwell said. “We never found a great rhythm but we started to find some rhythm. The mistakes cost us early. But the girls came back, never dropped their heads and battled the whole second half.”
Montgomery Academy, defending 4A-5A champ the last time a state tournament was played in 2019, will return to Huntsville in search of its ninth trip to the finals in the last 10 tournaments. St. James, meanwhile, will go back to work in hopes of breaking through in 2022 with a squad that loses only senior Caroline Williams.
“We’re going to miss her greatly,” Brightwell said. “A tremendous kid who comes in and works hard, brings a great attitude, is a good leader for our younger kids to see a great example. But we’re young. The majority of our team is ninth graders and eighth graders.”
MA Boys advance
There wasn’t much suspense in Friday’s quarterfinal matchup between Montgomery Academy and LAMP.
The Eagles scored three goals quickly, added two more in the first half and three in the second half for an 8-0 win over the Golden Tigers in the quarterfinals of the 4A-5A state soccer playoffs at McLemore Field on Friday night.
LAMP, the Area 4 runner-up to Montgomery Academy, ends the season still looking for its first goal against the Eagles after losing 4-0 in the middle of March and 3-0 two weeks ago.
“It’s kind of tough because we’ve already played them twice this season and they’re a really good team,” LAMP coach Robbie Farquhar said. “They play well together so it’s hard, especially coming off our last one, a big win where we snuck in a goal late, so there’s a bit of a hangover for this game as well.”
The Golden Tigers reached the quarterfinals for the fifth time in school history, but the first time since 2012, beating Carroll 5-3 in the first round of the playoffs and St. Michael 1-0 earlier this week.
Despite the earlier shutouts of the Golden Tigers, Montgomery Academy’s team came out focused and ready to play, scoring three quick goals in the first half to put the game away early.
“Honestly, it wasn’t hard to motivate them,” Montgomery Academy coach Gabi De Queiroz said. “It’s a special group of guys. Right before the game, we went to the locker room to talk and they had already motivated themselves. They know it’s a special time, it’s a playoff game and they were motivating themselves. It’s easy to work when you have that kind of talent among the players.”
A larger-than-normal crowd was on hand as well, with the girls and boys playing back-to-back quarterfinal playoff games. It marked only the second time in city history a quarterfinal playoff game has involved two local teams as LAMP defeated Trinity 3-0 in the 2012 quarterfinals.
“It’s nice to see the competition here in the city,” De Queiroz said. “To see the competition coming, (the players) want to keep that distance from them in every single game.
“The environment, the people here watching, that helped to make the game feel special. You want to play. That kind of pushed them, the wish to score and play better and faster, every single time. Even though we finished the first half 5-0, they kept going. It’s good to see that kind of mentality.”
Montgomery Academy (18-1-1) will face the winner of Saturday’s matchup between Indian Springs and American Christian in the 4A-5A semifinals on Thursday at the Huntsville Soccer Complex.
“It’s going to be tough,” De Queiroz said. “I think it’s going to be really good competition. I think we’re in a good place. It’s just a matter of them getting motivated, like they did today, and waking up ready to play.”
LAMP finished the season at 10-4 and loses just two seniors.
“I thought this was a rebuilding year for us,” Farquhar said. “But some things rolled the right way for us, we got some momentum and got on a roll. We peaked at the right time. We only graduate two this year, but MA is young as well so it’s going to be a battle again next year. But it’s a battle I look forward to because it’s a measuring stick for us.”
Autauga Academy baseball advances
BUTLER -- Autauga Academy scored a run in the top of the sixth to break a 1-1 tie and edge Patrician Academy 2-1 in the third game of the AA quarterfinals at Patrician on Friday.
The Generals will advance to the AA semifinals and will travel to Macon East Academy for a best-of-three series with a doubleheader beginning Wednesday at 4 p.m. A third game, if necessary, will be played on Thursday.
Noah Ray picked up the win for the Generals, allowing just one run on five hits while striking out four in a complete-game performance. Autauga won the first game 6-2 on Thursday with a similar performance from John Gabehart, who limited the Saints to four hits in 6.2 innings.
Patrician rallied with a 12-0 win in the second game of the doubleheader, however, to force a third game.
In Friday’s finale, Autauga broke a scoreless tie in the third with a run, only to have the Saints tie the game again in the fourth.
Colin Edwards had two of the Generals’ four hits and scored one of the runs, while Lake Barber had a hit and scored the other run. Hayes Devaughn went 1 for 3 and drove in one of Autauga’s two runs.
Carson Coody scored the Saints’ only run and went 2 for 3 for Patrician. Garrett Lewis, who had one of the Saints’ hits, suffered the loss while allowing just one earned run and four hits in seven innings while striking out six.