By FEAR CHURCHWELL – Web Writer
On May 8, the Clarke Central High School team defeated the Riverwood High School Raiders 3-0 to advance to the Elite Eight of the 8-AAAAA State Playoffs.
On May 1, the Gladiators defeated East Paulding High School 5-1 in order to advance to play the Raiders.
As soon as kickoff of the first half, both the Gladiators and the Raiders played aggressively and tried to make big plays down field. It started with CCHS taking it deep down field, but failing to score. Then it was Riverwood’s turn. Riverwood was quick on offense, and maintained the ball in Gladiator territory for a few minutes.
“In the first half we came out kind of slow,” CCHS junior sweeper Marquez Favors said. “(The offense) played pretty good (in the first half) we were just a little too anxious. We weren’t connecting our passes like we should have.
Control of the field changed frequently with both defenses holding firm to the opponents offensive attacks. The first big chance that the Gladiators received was about midway through the first half. The shot was a failed attempt at an upper 90, with the Riverwood keeper barely able to reach up and save the ball.
The Gladiator defense was again tested. For about eight minutes, the Raiders kept it mostly on the Gladiator side of the field. However, the attacks were held off by the Gladiator defense, which consisted of sweeper junior Marquez Favors, Junior Stopper Baylor Ward, Junior leftback Italo Pastor and right back Senior kevin erickson, who was filling for Senior Max Germain who was diagnosed with a concussion in the first round game and the Raiders could not seem to put up a solid shot on goal.
The Raider speed started to wear down with about 12 minutes left to go in the half. Although also fatigued, the Gladiators took advantage of the Raider exhaustion and used a burst of energy to bring the ball to the Raider side of the field.
The remainder of the first half was mostly the Gladiators trying to put up an attack on goal. The attacks were led by CCHS Junior midfielder Gabriel Scott and Junior forward Matthew ward.The Gladiators did, in fact, succeed in attacking the goal, but was unsuccessful in scoring.
At the start of the second half, the Gladiator offense picked up right where it left off, making aggressive attacks on goal. Despite the aggressive attacks, it seemed that as the strikes on goal persisted so did the will of the Raider’s goalkeeper to keep the ball from hitting the net.
About eight minutes into the first half, the fouls started to pile on due to fatigue. It started with a yellow card awarded to CCHS Junior defender Baylor Ward, followed shortly by a handball foul.
Just when it was looking as if the Gladiators would never score, CCHS Junior midfielder Gabriel Scott let one fly into the goal with about 24 minutes remaining in the second half. Waiting so desperately for a goal, the crowd went berserk.
“When the first goal came in, the others just came in after the others” CCHS senior forward Candelario Aguirre said, “When (Gabriel) scored a goal I saw the other team put their heads down.
Only a minute and a half later, the Gladiators scored a second goal. The goal was scored by CCHS junior forward Matthew Ward. Although the Raiders had speed, they had little offensive depth and few Raider players were able to play the deep offense. By this point, the RHS were trying to force it. They had no success converting their attempts to points in all of regulation.
Later in the half, the Raiders got comfortable with bringing a large amount of players down to attack. For that the Gladiators made them pay. With eight minutes remaining on the game clock, the Gladiators made a quick run down the sidelines and crossed the ball over for the third score of the game senior forward Candelario Aguirre.
The game ended with a Gladiator victory of 3-0. The Gladiators will play at Houston County High School on Saturday, May 11 in the Elite Eight.
Although Houston County High School is the number two seed, Favors believes that if CCHS plays like they did in the second round, they should come out victorious.
“They have a good record, but I feel like if we play the way we played in the second half we’ll probably beat them,” Favors said.
