Move aside Bears baseball. There’s another first-time spring athletic achievement for the 2016 season at Houston County High.
Under first-year varsity head coach Eric Devoursney Jr., the Lady Bears soccer team overcame the obstacles of a three-hour bus ride, injuries and the physicality that would cause such things to happen to win the Region 2-AAAAA title game Thursday. Houston County played the host Evans High Knights in Columbia County to a 1-1 regulation and overtime periods draw. Emulating what Houston’s boys did one season ago, it took a shootout save in the goal for the Lady Bears to triumph in this sport for the first time in school history.
Devoursney said Houston County scored in the first five minutes of the opening half, and that got him to thinking it was the night for the Lady Bears to cruise the rest of the way.
“The rest of the game, it was even,” he said. “In the second half (Evans) scored pretty quickly. It was just a knock-down, drag out. We lost two girls to injury in the second half, Deja Wilson and Stevie Rigby. Stevie was able to return, but Deja was not. Then we just couldn’t finish. We could not get the ball in the goal. We had plenty of opportunities.
“We kept scrapping, kept scrapping.”
Devoursney said Houston County missed the first attempt in the PK shootout, but then so did Evans. Each team then connected back and forth until it was 3-2 in favor of the Lady Bears. Evans had the advantage of taking the last shot in each round.
“Our goalie made a heck of a save,” said Devoursney.
“It took a lot of effort and a lot of heart,” said captain Shannon Walsh. “It came out to who wanted it more. We definitely wanted it more. You could tell in all of our faces and the way we played. We wanted to win that game more than the other team.”
Breanna Gomez scored Houston’s regulation goal on a rebound shot when Rigby’s effort bounced off the Lady Knight goalkeeper. Georgia Bostic, Gomez and Emily Burgess scored in the shootout.
“It was a back-and-forth battle,” said Devoursney. “We were evenly matched. They had a couple of injuries. It was physical and a good game. (Marissa Molnar) made saves all night. She played a heck of a game.”
“It was a hard-fought game,” said Walsh. “We were fighting the whole game. There was never a time when it was slow or dull.”
The championship victory gives the Lady Bears a 12-5 overall record, but they never lost a region game, 6-0 in the sub-region and 3-0 in the playoffs when they crossed over to play teams from the Columbia County based sub-region. It was on April 18 that the girls beat Lakeside-Evans at home 2-0 in the semifinals.
“I thought we started off pretty good,” said Devoursney. “We kind of went through a lull. We lost one of our captains in the middle of the year, Shannon Walsh. She was out four or five games. It threw our chemistry off a bit. We weren’t playing really well.
“She came back and we all started clicking. We have two freshmen (including Rigby) who start for us. Them getting into the mix, there was some growing pains.”
“I was out for a concussion,” said Walsh, a junior midfielder. “It was really hard watching the girls out there playing and not being about to share that with them. It was good to be back and help my team out, do the best I can. I feel fine now. It doesn’t stop me from heading the ball or winning the ball out of the air.
“We brought (the new girls) in and showed them what we are all about. Brought them into the family that we are. It took all of our heart and strength together to push us over the top.”
“It took a lot of practice through the years we’ve been working together,” said senior captain Riana Greene. “That connection helped us in the end. When (the championship match) became 1-1, we knew we had to put our all into it. Whatever it took, basically. Our team loves each other. I think pushing our teammates helped us get our win.”
“They are super excited about (being champions),” said Devoursney. “We get to host Effingham County Wednesday (in the GHSA AAAAA first round at 6 p.m.). They’re pumped. This is the most excited I’ve seen them all year.
“It’s tough to say (how far we can go in state). It’s hard to gauge how you are against somebody you’ve never played against. I think (the teams from Effingham’s region) are pretty decent.”
But it was quite a challenge for Houston in those region playoffs. The eurosportscoreboard.com ranking for AAAAA had Evans at No. 7. Lakeside-Evans has 10 wins this season (the same as Effingham), and the Lady Bears took on the likes of Columbus and East Coweta in non-region play.
“I feel good about that,” said Devoursney. “I think we’re going in the right direction.”
“We want to go as long as we possibly can,” said Walsh. “We know we have some really tough games up ahead of us. But I do think we can go far.”
Greene sent a little credit towards Devoursney, who took over for Jason Kirk, who was leading both Houston’s boys and girls soccer teams for two years. She said the new coach made sure they were ready to play, that they had fresh legs out on the field and a good plan.
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