ACE boys fall to Armuchee 4-1 in third round of playoffs

Some playoff losses are thrillers, one-score games that come down to the last minute or even run past it. Others arrive all at once; a surge of goals or a frenzy of fantastic plays will quickly show which team has the edge, as squads of different talent levels converge in the bracket.

But it was not a deluge that sunk No. 2 ACE’s ship in the playoffs against the Armuchee Indians on Tuesday. There was no onslaught of scoring or flood of fleet-footed passing.

Instead it was a slow bleed, punctuated by a pair of caroming early goals that the Gryphons could not recover from. 

Armuchee scored relatively evenly across 80 minutes of steady — albeit not stark — superiority, never thoroughly dismantling the ACE defense but constantly seeping through its cracks to create scoring chances. The consistent effort led the Indians to a 4-1 win over the Gryphons in the third round of the GHSA Class A-Division I state tournament.

The heartbreak, whether inflicted by a thousand cuts or not, seemed to feel the same. ACE players hung their heads after the loss. Some wiped away tears as head coach Robby Jones embraced them.

It was the final game for an ACE senior class that reached the third round of the state tournament twice in its four years and won three region championships.

Perhaps more significantly, it was the team’s last game with Jones at the helm. While the longtime head coach still has more games to coach at ACE — Jones also leads the girls team, which will play a semifinal game Thursday — he will move on from coaching to become the school’s principal next school year.

After losing some talent from last year, the Gryphons knew they were underdogs and embraced it. Sohan Patel, the star sophomore who scored ACE’s only goal of the match with about 13 minutes left to play, spoke fiercely about the Gryphons’ senior class after their second-round victory. “I want people to know,” he said, “that we’re here now.”

“We lost a lot of seniors,” Jones said. “We crashed out in Round 2 (last year), and this team made it beyond that. They fought today the full 80 minutes, didn’t give up despite being down 4-0. … They still remained physical and wanted to keep fighting. They bonded as a brotherhood, and I’m proud of them.”

But at the same time, you can only be an underdog if you’re facing a talented team. As the defending champions, Armuchee came into the match as a formidable opponent and the No. 7 team in the Class A-Division I bracket.

That pedigree showed early. Even though Armuchee’s first two goals were a bit flukey — one was on a corner kick where the Gryphons were not well-organized, the other was a shot that actually deflected off an ACE player — the chances only arrived because the Gryphons’ were on the defensive early and often.

The next two goals, which came in the second half, were backbreakers. With about 33 minutes left to play, shifty forward Mikey Aldana snagged a third goal with a great drive to the net. Leyton Brown punched in Armuchee’s fourth score with about 20 minutes remaining, effectively putting the game on ice.

“They had a lot of individually talented kids on the ball, dribbling maestros that put us in bad spots,” Jones said. “I felt like after those first two goals we could’ve put four goals on the board, but we missed our opportunities.”

The Gryphons had many chances of their own, particularly in the second half. Patel had five shots on goal and made one of them, but ACE frequently attempted long passes that Armuchee easily wrangled and took back upfield.

The Indians improved to 17-3 and will face Barrow in the semifinals. ACE finished the season 13-6 in Jones’ final campaign — a campaign in which he learned some things.

“(They taught me that) at the end of the day it’s a game,” Jones said of his team. “Have fun and keep your perspective. Enjoy life. Don’t take yourself too seriously. Help others when you can.”