The East Limestone girls and boys soccer teams wrapped up Class 1-4A, Section 7 title on Thursday with wins over Madison Academy.

The Lady Indians, who had lost earlier to the Lady Mustangs, needed to win by two goals to capture the area crown and came away with a 3-0 win.

The boys, meanwhile, wrapped up a perfect sectional campaign with a 2-1 shootout win over the Mustangs.

For the first time in school history, the Indians and Lady Indians will host first-round state playoff games on May 2.

Tied 0-0 at halftime, Lady Indians head coach Brad Carwile issued a challenge to his team’s offense, and East came through with goals from Lauren Gibbs, Paige Boersma and Emily Burhman.

“We challenged the offense to play with the same intensity as the defense,” Carwile said.

Sara Gdula had six saves in goal for East.

The Indians were trailing 1-0 with 10 minutes to play when Brent Morgan put home the tying goal.

In the shootout, goalie Matt Keown knocked down the third shot from Madison Academy, allowing Jacob Meyer to kick the game-winner for East.

Boys

Athens 5, Hartselle 4

Ethan Gossett’s direct kick with 12:55 to play lifted Athens to a 5-4 boys’ soccer win over Hatselle.

It was one of two goals by Gossett, who also had an assists. Jarrod Gordon, Javier Serrato and Jeremy Brown also had goals for Athens.

With the victory, Athens pushed its record to 11-7-0 overall and 6-1 in section play. The Golden Eagles have assured a spot in the upcoming state playoffs. The only thing to be decided is whether they have the first or second seed from Section 8. That will be decided in a match at Cullman on Monday.



Earlier matches

Cullman 1, Athens 0

Northridge 1, Athens 0

The Athens Golden Eagle varsity boys soccer hosted 2 of the top 5A boys’ teams in the state of Alabama, last week, and came away with two 1-0 losses. The Cullman Bearcats won 1-0 in a penalty-kick shootout, while the Northridge Jaguars scored a 1-0 win in regulation.

The two teams played toe-to-toe for 80 minutes of regulation with neither team scoring a goal.

Since this was a section match, a winner had to be determined. So, the pressure-packed “kicks from the mark” method was used to decide the outcome. Cullman scored on its first 4 shots, while Athens scored once on a shot by Samuel Romero.

For the match Athens took eight shots on goal, while Cullman took seven. The Northridge Jaguars scored the only goal against Athens in the sixth minute of play.

Athens took seven shots on goal, while allowing five to the visitors from Tuscaloosa.

Girls

Athens 7, West Limestone 2

Brooke Daron had three goals, and Lara Dean scored two Thursday to lead the Athens High Lady Eagles to a 7-2 girls’ soccer win over West Limestone.

Maggie Armstrong and Kayla Smith also had goals for Athens.

The players who scored West Limestone’s two goals were not reported.



Softball

ABS 6, Decatur Heritage 0

DECATUR – Kana Irwin pitched a two-hit shutout as Athens Bible finished off the Class 1A, Area 15 title with a road win at Decatur Heritage.

Erwin walked two and struck out six in the win.

Emily Cathey led the Lady Trojans hitting with two singles and an RBI. Abbie Melvin and Emily Irwin had one single each. Mindy Staggs, Ashley Eaton and Melvin also had an RBI each.



Golf

East Limestone 157,

Hazel Green 165, Falkville 177

The Indians got balanced scoring with a 1-over par 37 from Brandon Holt, a 2-over 38 from Taylor Garrett, and a 3-over 39 from Clay Ebersold Tuesday to win a tri-match over Hazel Green and Falkville at The Canebrake Golf Club.

Kyle Pressley of Falkville took medalist honors with a 3-under 33.

Clements 168, Elkmont 193

Aaron Romine shots 2-over 37 to lead Clements to a dual match win over Elkmont at Southern Gayles.

Levi Gordon added a 38 for Clements. Caleb Black’s 45 was low for Elkmont.

Last week, the Colts took a 171-172 win over Ardmore at Southern Gayles.

Gordon shot 41, while Zach Adams shot 42 for the Colts. Derrick Broadway shot 42 for Ardmore.



Baseball

Tuesday’s games

Hartselle 9, Athens 3

Zach Brock had two hits, including a pair of doubles, but Athens High couldn’t control the bats of the perennially powerful Tigers.

Alex Cathey and Brian Young also had doubles. Young drove in two runs.

Hartselle 11, Athens 8

The Golden Eagles put up a fight in the second game, falling three runs short with a five-run rally in the sixth inning.

Young had two hits, including a double, and drove in three runs. Brad Reasonover also had two hits.



Girls’ tennis

Athens 5, Randolph 1

Betsy Butler, Rachel Rosales and Brock Brett each picked up doubles and singles wins Thursday to lead Athens High to a girls’ tennis win over Randolph.

Butler beat Annie Brethour 10-2 at No. 3 singles, and then teamed with Rosales to beat Erin O’Reilly and Swapra KaKain 10-1 at No. 2 doubles. Rosales beat O’Reilly 10-4 at No. 3 singles.

Brett topped Katie Wright 10-3 at No. 5 singles, and then teamed with Mary Ellen Coleman to beat Brethour and Wright 10-6 at No. 3 doubles. Athens’s only loss was Lisa Medley and Elizabeth Hunt’s 11-10 loss to Caitlin Raby and Alexa Ammon at No. 1 doubles.



Tuesday’s match

Huntsville 9, Athens 0

Brett’s 9-7, 6-2 loss to Rachael Frost at No. 5 singles was the closest Athens came to victory in singles. Brett and Mary Ellen Coleman also had a hard-fought 7-5, 6-3 loss to Allison Yofleg and Elizabeth Yofleg at No. 3 doubles.