No. 4 Veterans claims first seed in the region against Lee County

WARNER ROBINS, Ga. — The No. 4 Veterans Warhawks (11-1, 5-1 Region 1-6A) played the Lee County Trojans (6-2, 4-1 Region) for the number one seed in the region on Wednesday, and came out on top 3-0.

The two clubs exchanged shots with no success for much of the first half. The only one to get through was senior Xander Davis, who was in the right place at the right time for a pass from sophomore Camren Laris that gave the Warhawks their first goal of the game with eight minutes left in the first half.

Senior Carter Morningstar almost got another to go with 5:53 to play in the first half, but the ball was right on the outside of the goal.

Laris got one final shot off just before halftime but it was above the crossbar.

It didn’t take long for the Warhawks to add to their tally in the second half. 20 seconds in Morningstar scored his first of the game to make it 2-0 Veterans.

The Trojans tried to respond, but goalkeeper Brayden Black blocked a runaway break with 34 minutes left, and that was far from his last deflection.

With 24 minutes left Laris gave Veterans their last goal of the game, putting the Warhawks above the Trojans 3-0.

Lady Warhawks 1, Lady Trojans 0

There were 70 scoreless minutes in Wednesday’s match between the Veterans Lady Warhawks (6-2-3, 5-1 Region 1-6A) and the Lee County Lady Trojans (4-4, 2-3 Region), but senior Lily Maddox made sure her team was the one that came out on top.

Her goal came with 9:59 left in the game, and as she was left with a wide open net she drilled the eventual game-winning shot.

Both teams were consumed with a deadlock at midfield for most of the game, with only a handful of attacks making it through before eventually being cleared.

Despite that, the Lady Warhawks played with aggression and physicality.

There wasn’t much of a clear threat for Veterans for most of the first half — most advances were cleared by a defender or met by the goalkeeper, but the Lady Trojans still threatened with several consecutive throw-ins in the Lady Warhawks’ defensive third.

They were able to fend off the attack, and sophomore Emily Smith took one final shot before the half ended but it was no good.

Sophomore Keziah Thompson got the first scoring opportunity of the second half with a free kick at 34 minutes left, but Lee County’s goalkeeper blocked the shot, leading to a Lady Trojans offensive.

20 minutes passed before the Veterans onslaught began. Starting at 13:50, the Lady Warhawks got three opportunities to score, including Maddox’s go-ahead.

Thompson was the first, though as she got the ball down the field she was met with a staunch defense that ended the offensive.

The second one came as Maddox crossed the ball into the box and freshman Kaylah Judy took the shot, but it was just wide with 10:43 to play.

Then about a minute later Maddox hit the go-ahead to lift the Lady Warhawks to victory.

UP NEXT

As the regular season draws to a close, the Warhawks will play stadium and county rival Houston County in a region contest on Tuesday, Mar. 19 at 5 p.m. before finishing region play at home against Thomas County Central on Friday, Mar. 22 at 5:30 p.m.

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