King's Ridge Christian at ELCA

Hebron Christian at Mount Paran

Class A-Public

Treutlen at Gordon Lee

Charlton Co. at ECI

-Mill Creek clinched its first semifinals appearance ever with a 3-1 win over

Photo courtesy Mill Creek HS

Hillgrove in a driving rain Friday night in Hoschton. The No. 2 Hawks have won 12 straight games and are the top seed from a highly competitive Region 7. Mill Creek sent home a Cinderella of sorts in Hillgrove, which was the No. 4 seed from Region 4. 

The Hawks are joined by Gwinnett neighbor Parkview, which streaked to the semis despite carrying Region 8's No. 3 seed. 

-Douglas County also made the Class AAAAAA semis. The Tigers did it in unorthodox fashion by scoring three goals within one minute and 47 seconds against South Gwinnett after neither team scored in the first 64 minutes of the game. 

-In Class AAA, No. 4 seed North Hall made the semifinals after a 5-3 win at Islands. The Trojans are the lone No. 4 seed to make the boys soccer semis. North Hall's run through the layoffs was keyed by its 1-0 win at top-seed North Murray in the first round.  

-Thomasville put an end to Lovett's surprising run in Class AA with a 4-2 win Friday night. The Bulldogs are the lone team not from Region 6 to make the semifinals. Lovett made news by winning its first two playoff games over ranked teams after winning just one regular-season game. 

-County neighbors and region rivals Dalton and Southeast Whitfield each made the Class AAAA semis for the second straight year. The programs met in the final last year and could meet again this season in the finals if each team wins its semifinal. It would be the fourth time the programs have met this season. 

-Defending champ Paideia upset Class A No. 1 Hebron Christian 2-1 in the quarterfinals Friday. Despite a 12-7-1 record, the Pythons have shown up in a big way during the playoffs. Paideia took a 2-0 lead in the first half and held on in a rematch of last year's Class A final. 

-Class AAAAA No. 1 McIntosh has outscored the competition 17-1 in its first three playoff games. the Chiefs, despite being No. 1 all season with a flawless record, have to travel to Greenbrier for the semifinals tomorrow. 

Photo by Glenn Martin

The final four in Class AA will essentially feature a region tournament between Greater Atlanta Christian, Lovett, Westminster and Wesleyan. Those four Region 6 representatives won their semifinal matches on Saturday by a combined score of 26-1. Top-ranked Greater Atlanta Christian and No. 3 Westminster scored respective 10-0 victories over East Laurens and Lamar County, Lovett edged St. Vincent's 2-1 and Wesleyan blanked Putnam County 4-0.

Lovett had cruised past St. Vincent's 3-0 in last year's quarterfinals, but this time around the visiting Lions battled back from behind to survive by a one-goal margin. Freshman Sarah Stewart put the home team on top midway through the first half before Lovett answered during the second 40 minutes. Evie Johnson deflected a corner kick into the net in the 44th minute and Clara Easterlin scored on a header in 70th minute for what proved to be the game-winner. The Lions will go up against rival Westminster on Wednesday for a spot in the title match.

"We got a little lucky with our two goals and it was somewhat hard to think we deserved the win," Lovett head coach Will Lozier told the Savannah Morning News. "But we had 29 shots to their four. It was a laborious win. Their keeper (Sydney Conrad) played out of her mind." 

Three of the four state qualifiers from Region 6-AAA advanced to the semifinals on Saturday. Decatur, a No. 4 seed, won a third consecutive road game by shutting out Pierce County 1-0. The Bulldogs will next face region foe and No. 1 St. Pius X, which routed Jackson 10-0. Blessed Trinity, a No. 2 seed and also No. 2 overall in the classification, rolled over Pike County 8-0 to set up a date with Region 8 second-seed Oconee County.

In Class AAAAAA, three of the top four teams in the state are still alive. Harrison, Grayson and Parkview are joined in the semifinals by upstart East Coweta, which took full advantage of a quarter of the draw that did not feature a single team in the top six. The Indians trailed Centennial 2-0 and also 3-2 with fewer than five minutes remaining, but they mounted a memorable charge. They scored all four of their goals in the final 22 minutes, including the clincher by Lynnsey Danford with 27 seconds left in the match. Next up for East Coweta on Wednesday is second-ranked Grayson, which took care of Kennesaw Mountain 6-1. No. 1 Harrison and No. 4 Parkview earned 4-0 victories over Brookwood and Douglas County, respectively.              

In the state's highest classification, Area 2 sent three teams to both the boys

Photo by Lane Holt

and girls semifinals slated for this Tuesday and Wednesday. Milton, Roswell and Walton represent Area 2 in the boys final four and Milton, Lassiter and Walton represent in the girls semis.

The Milton boys survived the quarterfinals with a 13-12 win over Johns Creek and will host Lambert in the semis on Tuesday. The Longhorns also grabbed a one-goal victory to escape the quarterfinals with an 8-7 win over top-seeded Harrison. Lambert is the only in-state school to beat Milton this season (13-11 on March 18) and the two schools have each won a pair of state titles in the past four seasons.

Roswell, the No. 2 seed out of Area 2, knocked off defending state champion Centennial 12-10 on Friday. The Hornets will host Walton in the semis, which the Hornets defeated 12-9 on April 23.

Walton lost back-to-back games to Chattahoochee and Roswell, but have since won five straight against teams with a combined record of 63-32. Walton's win in the quarterfinals came in an impressive 12-7 effort over Peachtree Ridge. Peter Kavney gave the Raiders an advantage by stepping in and winning valuable faceoffs and goalie Jake Hornberger was a difference-maker in the net during crunch time. Sophomore Justin Peterson scored three goals and all-state defenseman William Holt returned from injury to hold one of the most explosive offenses in the state to its second-lowest scoring output of the season.

In Class A-AAAAA, Northview impressed with a 15-5 double-digit victory over Allatoona on Saturday. The Titans advanced to the semis to host Pope, which topped Decatur 11-8 in the quarterfinals. Defending Class A-AAAAA state champion Westminster cruised past GAC 11-4 and will visit rival Lovett in the semis on Wednesday

In Class AAAAAA girls, Milton dominated West Forsyth 20-5 to face Centennial in the semis on Wednesday. The Milton girls have won eight state titles the past nine seasons and are yet to lose to an in-state opponent this year. Lassiter held off a talented Chattahoochee team 14-12 to make the semis and will host Area 2-rival Walton, which exploded to a 23-6 win over Mill Creek on Friday.

Walton's only in-state losses this year was to Lassiter (10-9) and Milton (18-18). Lassiter's only in-state loss was to Milton (14-10) and as a result, none of the three semifinalists from Area 2 have lost to an in-state opponent outside their Area this season.

In Class A-AAAAA, the Blessed Trinity girls scored a thrilling 13-12 victory over top-seeded McIntosh to advance to the semis. The Titans will visit Kell on Tuesday, which beat Northview 18-12 and continues to add to what has been a record-breaking 18-1 season. The second half of the semis will feature defending champion Westminster and St. Pius X. Westminster is the four-time defending Class A-AAAAA state champion and its only in-state loss this season was to Kell (14-9). St. Pius X comes off a 13-10 win over Pope in the quarterfinals and also has just one in-state loss this season (16-15 in 2OT at Wesleyan).