ACE boys win 10-0 romp over Worth County in playoff opener, plus other postseason updates

For a good while, defense was the name of the game.

No. 31 Worth County’s defense held its own against an No. 2 ACE Charter offense that kept the pressure, but couldn’t break the scoreless tie.

“It took us a while to adjust to, calibrate, because we were offside a lot,” ACE boys soccer head coach Robby Jones said. “They play a high line, we weren’t calibrated for it.”

The Gryphons soon calibrated, and in a big way.

Jack Carter put up five goals — 25% of his season total entering the afternoon — to lead ACE to a 10-0 win Friday over Worth County in a GHSA boys Class A/Division I soccer first-round playoff game.

ACE improved to 12-6 while Worth County, the next-to-last seed, ended its season at 4-16. The second-seeded Gryphons host the winner of Fannin County vs. Barrow in a week.

Worth County played solid defense. ACE had Worth under some pressure most of the time, but the Rams did not allow many good shots.

The Rams rarely had any numbers advantage on offense and didn’t challenge ACE’s defense much, but it was a matter of time for the Gryphons, though it remained scoreless for more than 25 minutes.

The defensive battle then turned into a home-team flurry that put it away before halftime.

“When you play a high line,” Jones said, “you live and die by it.”

Death, figuratively, was coming.

Josiah Tripp drilled it up the middle through traffic with 13:14 left to break the seal.

“As soon as we adapted to it, adjusted to it, they got punished for it,” Jones said.”It was a barrage.”

Sohan Patel sprinted downfield and took advantage of the keeper falling to the turf for a fairly unobstructed goal and a 2-0 lead with 10:35 left.

P.A. announcer Tam Smith barely had time to address that goal before the scoreboard changed again, 32 seconds later when Carter began his impressive evening of scoring, booting it from the left side past the keeper to the right side of the net.

The defensive tempo returned for a bit until Carter sprinted down the left side and fired a laser for a 4-0 lead with just less than three minutes left.

ACE took a 5-0 lead into halftime on a Carter header off a nice pass from Patel with just 18 seconds left.

Worth County keeper Tripp Easom managed six saves in the first half against 17 shots and eight shots on goal, but the Rams couldn’t muster any shots or shots on goal.

Carter added an easy fourth goal less than seven minutes into the second half, then seven minutes later had basically an open goal in front of him, and had too much juice and sent his shot into the baseball outfield.

He dropped, frustrated and stunned, into a crouch, but the team’s seventh goal came soon enough. The Gryphons had numbers during a possession near the goal, and Carter’s first shot was blocked, but he had an easy follow-up that rolled in softly, and it was 7-0 at the 24:55 mark.

Tripp added a penalty kick less than a minute later. J.T. Frye joined the parade with 16:46 left, and Tripp earned a hat trick and ended the game with an easy penalty kick with 6:05 left.

The effort tied ACE’s season high in goal, matching the 10-0 win over Northeast in February. The Gryphons’ only two losses after an 0-4 start have been to Class AA top seed Morgan County and Class 5A Houston County, the latter on April 18, just before the start of the postseason.

“We want someone to be a really tough opponent going into the playoffs for this very reason,” Jones said. “They come out, they’re like they’re on fire, they’re not satisfied with that loss. They want to make that up and so that’s why we play someone like a HoCo. They need to realize they have room to grow.”

Other playoff updates: ACE baseball wins, Rutland struggles

The ACE baseball team won a do-or-die Game 3 against the Elbert County Blue Devils, winning the decisive contest 6-3 to advance to the second round of the GHSA Class A-Division I state tournament.

The Gryphons played spoiler, as their No. 17 seed meant they had to go on the road in the opening round of the playoffs for the first time in several seasons. Though they lost the first game 4-0, they bounced back with an 8-2 win in the second leg of Friday’s doubleheader before finishing off the Blue Devils in Saturday’s rubber game.

Slade Hodge was easily the hero for ACE in Game 3. After the Gryphons took an early 1-0 lead in the first inning, things were tied at 1-1 late when ACE came up to bat in the fifth inning. A Brice Whitley single pushed across the go-ahead run before the Gryphons loaded the bags.

Hodge then blew things wide open with a dramatic grand slam, giving the Gryphons a 5-1 lead and enough momentum to finish their key win.

Chase Sasser came up big on the mound for the Gryphons in the decisive game, pitching all seven innings and allowing only two earned runs on eight hits.

ACE will have its work cut out in the second round, as the Gryphons will face No. 1 Gordon-Lee on the road May 1.

The Rutland Hurricanes did not fare as well in the Class 2A playoffs, losing their series against No. 4 Redan in two games, 9-0 and 18-3. Star utility man and pitcher Tate Summerday had two hits in the series, but the Hurricanes could not get things done on the mound against the Raiders.

In girls soccer, No. 22 Westside lost 7-0 against No. 11 Pierce County on the road Thursday.