Warhawks shut out Bears on Freedom Field

WARNER ROBINS, Ga. — The Veterans Warhawks (13-1, 7-1 Region 1-6A) and Houston County Bears (8-4, 3-4 Region) faced off for the final time this regular season on Tuesday.

The result was the same as the previous matchup, but this time the Warhawks didn’t allow a score in a 4-0 shutout.

Both teams were aggressive on the ball to start. For the first 12 minutes of the game the two clubs were stalled in the midfield before Joey Maloney broke through for Veterans, but his shot was just outside the posts.

Maloney did end up assisting a scoring play from sophomore Camren Laris with 12 minutes left in the first half.

Maloney got the opportunity for a corner kick, and Laris took advantage with a header into the goal to take a 1-0 lead.

That was the final score of the first half, but 10 minutes into the second the Warhawks added to their tally.

Laris was fouled just outside the box, giving Veterans a free kick in the Bears’ Den.

Laris, Maloney and David Drake lined up to kick the ball, and not one fake but two fakes later, Maloney successfully got the ball in the box for Drake who assisted senior Carter Morningstar in putting the Warhawks up 2-0.

Laris was relentless on the night. He scored two more goals in the final 30 minutes of the game, ending the contest with a hat trick and 4-0 win.

“We challenged them to step up and they did. I couldn’t be happier with how they did today,” Veterans coach Matt Roth said post-game.

Lady Bears 4, Lady Warhawks 3

It was a close, hard-fought game in round two of the Veterans Lady Warhawks (7-3-3, 6-2 Region 1-6A) versus the Houston County Lady Bears (6-7, 2-5 Region).

It took two overtime periods and a penalty kick shootout to decide a winner, but it was the Lady Bears this time taking home the win 4-3.

HoCo did most of their damage in the first half, scoring all three of their regulation goals in that period.

The Lady Bears took the lead with 24:52 left in the first half when Paulina Guzman finished a shot that was deflected by the crossbar, marking the score 2-1 HoCo.

Although the Lady Warhawks went into halftime down 3-1, they were far from done.

Senior Lily Maddox put Veterans one goal closer 10 minutes into the second half, and with 11:10 left freshman Marley Laguines tied it up at 3-3.

The ball went up and down the field for the remaining time in regulation, but neither club was able to score.

The game remained without a score through two overtime periods, and junior Allison Kirk put the game away for the Lady Bears with a penalty kick.

UP NEXT

The Warhawks finish up region play next week at home against Thomas County Central on Monday, Mar. 25 at 5:30 p.m. and on the road against Lee County on Thursday, Mar. 28 at 5:30 p.m.

They finish the regular season at Columbus on April 10.

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