Stratford boys defeat George Walton 3-0 in first round of playoffs

Trying something different always leads to suspense and second-guessing.

There was little of the former and none of the latter for Iain Jones.

“We tweaked some things with our lineup in regard to who was playing,” the Stratford head boys soccer coach said. “Some tactical changes that really helped get us settled in the game more, got us a little bit more connected.

“When they put their minds to it, they can be really special.”

The seventh-seeded Eagles turned in a solid performance as they recorded their third shutout of the year Wednesday, topping George Walton 3-0 in the first round of the GIAA Class 4A boys playoffs.

“I think overall it’s probably one of our strongest performances of the season,” Jones said. “This is one of the most coachable teams I’ve coached in a long time.”

The 12-6 Eagles got two goals from Sanford Horne and a clincher from Auden Geary on a night that saw Jones experiment on the pitch.

“Without going too far, without giving away too much of it,” Jones said, hesitating to speak about the changes, “our forwards were connecting a little bit better. We had a forward really holding the ball up and doing a good job and then distributing the ball. We created a lot more space with our width. We’ve struggled with width all year.”

Jones cited Horne, Brady Flournoy, James Biesterfield,  Harry McNeel and Jonti Hajo in particular among the forwards as having good nights amid the changes.

The teams got a head start on the rest of the GIAA field, as other teams begin the playoffs Friday. The opponents agreed to the early meeting because of a variety of graduation-related scheduling issues. Stratford couldn’t really play on Saturday, and George Walton couldn’t go on Thursday.

A few more days of prep was unlikely to make life too much better for the visitors, whose quality season ended at 13-4.

George Walton finished 1-1 against Middle Georgia teams, as they nipped Tattnall 3-2 on March 26. The Bulldogs then won three games, lost 7-3 to Tallulah Falls and won another four straight — twice on penalty kicks — before visiting Stratford.

The freshman-heavy team struggled to get many decent-to-good looks at the goal, but did a good job most of the first half keeping the Eagles from doing much.

Possession time was fairly equal, although the Eagles got three or four times as many shots on goal.

Finally, Horne on a sprint toward the goal caught a soft but on-target pass from McNeel and drilled a hooking shot to the left side of the net for the lead with 19:22 left in the half.

“Give credit to George Walton,” Jones said. “They didn’t make it easy for us, and I didn’t expect them to make it easy.”

Stratford started playing a little better then, though it had little to show for it other than a stretch of frustrating high shots to the goal. The Eagles had nearly a dozen such near-misses by the end of the night.

“The story,” said Jones with a hint of exasperation, “of our season.”

There was a mini flurry in the final two minutes of the half during which Stratford had two good looks and couldn’t convert, forced to settle for a 1-0 lead.

The close calls continued in the second half as the Eagles continued to progress in nearly every phase except flipping the scoreboard.

A header from 15 just missed, and he followed that with a familiar reaction: frustration. A few more teams followed his lead the rest of the way.

Horne gave the Eagles a cushion — a big one, considering how few shots of any kind George Walton was mustering — with an off-kilter header on a loose ball with 16:53 to go.

The sweetest pure soccer play for a goal came a little more than six minutes later, when Geary dribbled and stutter-stepped and faked his way through some defenders in the box before skipping across the grass to the left side of the net.

The night was only marred by a knee injury to freshman Corbin Davison, who was carted off. Jones won’t know for a day or two the full diagnosis.

The Eagles now have a chunk of time off before heading to second-seeded Brookstone (12-2-1) in Columbus on Saturday, May 16. The teams haven’t played since Stratford’s 6-0 win early in the 2024 playoffs.

Brookstone will get a well-tested visitor that’s returning to form after graduating 17 seniors and 10 starters in the past two years.

“One of the things we’ve done this year is played a really, really tough schedule,” Jones said. “I would say arguably the first- or second-toughest schedule in the GIAA. We’re the only school that’s played six GHSA high schools.

“Those guys prepared us for games like this.”