McIntosh defends No. 1 rankings, hands Houston County first loss
A former Houston County High soccer coach once spoke of “good soccer against good soccer” in describing previous misfortunes for the Bears in the GHSA playoffs.
Saturday, at the University of West Georgia in Carrollton, it was a battle of good soccer for the 2013 Class AAAAA boys championship. McIntosh High defended all the No. 1 rankings by claiming the program’s fourth title in a 2-0 shutout over a Houston County club reaching the final round for the first time ever.
In the previous two rounds, the Bears had goals in the opening minute of play. That wouldn’t happen against a McIntosh team with only two points allowed the entire season. But Jason Kirk’s defense showed that it wouldn’t give up anything easily by clearing away two free kicks inside of 30 yards in the first seven minutes.
The Bears in fact took the first serious shot on goal, one saved at 32:25. Pushing the ball downfield in less than 20 seconds, the heralded Gatorade Player of the Year Salomon Lorenzano worked his way into open space and scored the first goal.
Play evened itself out in between the penalty boxes just as the Chiefs would want it. Houston’s next good chance to score was at 20:13, but the keeper had the catch on Everick Little’s free kick. A few minutes later, Andrew Weber and Colin Little worked the ball around the box looking for sophomore Steven Moore, but Moore couldn’t get to the set pass.
In less than a minute McIntosh was on its scoring end, but keeper Bryce Dawson caught the crossing pass.
The Chiefs, though, knew they had to respect Moore and his high goal total. The keeper beat him to a loose ball at 14:30, and inside of 14 minutes McIntosh took the ball from him on a side tackle.
Less than 20 seconds after that tackle, the Chiefs were on the move, and Dawson ran to stop a ball crossed in from a corner. The keeper made a great save low on a shot from the top of the box (10:20).
Also in the first half, the Bears lost the services of defender Ezequiel Morales to injury. E. Little and Drew Behrman made up for it with fine coverage in the corners.
McIntosh made two more stops against Moore in the last five minutes. E. Little headed away a free kick from the left angle with 60 seconds to play.
The Chiefs came out in the second half challenging only to be stopped by Braden Anderson, Behrman and Will Pospisil. A clean shot at 35:38 hit a side post.
Another shot from McIntosh banged off a post at 26:44.
Houston County was getting free kick chances and, thanks to Anderson’s defense, a deep corner throw-in by Weber. All these plays would be cleared away. A great opportunity presented itself at 24:29 when the McIntosh keeper was down. He got up in time in the middle of back-and-forth ricochets and caught the ball.
Colin Little, Anderson and Pospisil were all over Lorenzano at 19:21, creating an easy catch for Dawson. Just a couple of minutes earlier Moore faced similar pressure on his charge, giving the Chiefs a goal kick.
Dawson’s next highlight save was at the 18-minute mark as McIntosh had a 27-yard left-angle free kick. The Chiefs worked the ball to the right corner to set up a crossing pass, and Dawson denied the ensuing header.
Dawson later received help from Will Cowart, who defended an outside charge at 14:52.
But at 5:31, the Chiefs went ahead 2-0 by spacing the field and making one solid pass from the outside in to score.
Weber and Everick Little will join Lorenzano as teammates in the 2013 freshman class at Georgia State University. Lorenzano was responsible for more than 50 goals this season, both in scoring and assists.
Colin Little, Behrman and Dylan Krimmer are other members of the Bears senior class set to play in college.
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