Battle for the Troops a success, split for McIntosh and Starr’s Mill

It was a Battle for the Troops and a battle for bragging rights. At the end of the night, each school had something to cheer about.

Starr’s Mill head coach Deanise Myers stated after the Lady Panthers 4-1 win over McIntosh that her girls had been working hard for several weeks on moving without the ball and giving their teammates several options each time they touched the ball. The hard work paid off as Starr’s Mill scored two first half goals, one from Mandy McCalla and one from Lauren Swany, who had two on the night, and two in the second half to secure a win.

Swany started off the scoring in the second half on an assist from Caitlyn Daniels and Rebecca Bonilla scored the final goal of the night. In between Starr’s Mill’s second half goals, McIntosh had a beautiful play around the halfway point that resulted in a goal for Laura Higgason.

“This is a big game because of the event, supporting the troops and playing in their honor, but also because of the rivalry between the two teams,” said Myers. Last week, Myers, a McIntosh alumni, played in the alumni game and a photo of her in her McIntosh uniform circulated around the team. They were fired up, but they weren’t the only ones.

The atmosphere was increasingly boisterous as the start of the boys game neared. Both schools pep bands began to play during the girls game and the stands filled in with fans ready for the match between the top two teams in Class AAAA, Starr’s Mill at number one and McIntosh at number two. When the rankings come out next week, the Chiefs should be back on top after handing Starr’s Mill a 4-1 loss.

Josh Ball, held in check by Whitewater last week, scored two goals for the Chiefs while Bailey Brooks and Matt Mateos each had one. Chase Parks had the goal for Starr’s Mill on a penalty kick.

McIntosh is now 13-1 with one region game remaining, at Northgate on Apr. 13. Starr’s Mill (10-2-1) will play at 5th ranked Marist that night and will host region opponents Sandy Creek on Apr. 15 and Villa Rica on Apr. 20.

Whitewater’s boys (8-3) defeated Alexander 1-0 on Tuesday and Villa Rica 3-1 on Thursday. Their remaining region match will be Apr. 16 at home against Fayette County.

On the girls side, the Whitewater girls (12-0) are number one in Class AAAA. They beat Alexander 8-0 and Villa Rica 10-0 this week and will play four state ranked teams around their final region game against Fayette County. They will host St. Pius (6th) on Apr. 12, Westminster (14th) on Apr. 14, play at Walton (2nd), on Apr. 19. and at Harrison (8th) on Apr. 21. The Lady Wildcats have scored 80 goals this season and allowed only one.

In other games this week, Fayette County’s girls lost to Northgate 5-1 on Tuesday and beat Douglas County 4-1 on Thursday. The boys beat the Vikings in penalty kicks and beat Douglas County 1-0.

Sandy Creek’s girls (7-5) have won three in a row. This past Tuesday they beat Villa Rica 3-1.

Landmark Christian’s boys are still undefeated after a 1-0 win over Pace on Wednesday. Landmark’s girls lost 2-0. Our Lady of Mercy’s boys (7-5-1) lost to Riverwood 3-0 on Tuesday and the girls (6-7) lost 10-0.