Last week was rough for the East Jackson soccer teams, as both the boys and girls lost to North Oconee early in the week before the girls won and boys lost to East Hall later in the week.
The girls are now 2-1 in the region and 5-3 overall, while the boys fall to 1-2 in region play and 3-5 overall.
East Jackson now heads into the most important week of the season, with region opponents Jackson County and Jefferson. All three teams are competing for region playoff spots.
East Jackson was slated to face Jackson County on Tuesday. Results were unavailable at press time. They will travel to Jefferson on Friday, the girls starting at 4:30 and the boys at 6:00.
North Oconee
Last Wednesday, East Jackson hosted North Oconee, a state ranked team considered the toughest opponent in the region.
The girls played hard, but came away with their first region loss of the season, falling 2-0 to the Lady Titans.
The boys were playing without their starting keeper, and fell behind 2-0 early on. They saw the Titans score another goal to make it 3-0 at the half.
The Eagles played more aggressively in the second half, scoring the only goal of the half off a strike from Jonathan Zarco that deflected off a defender into the North Oconee goal. In the end, North Oconee won 3-1.
East Hall
On Friday, both teams traveled to East Hall.
The girls got off to a strong start, with Skyler Cozzens scoring a goal in the first 10 minutes of play, after which the game became a defensive struggle.
East Hall scored on a breakaway in the final minute to make it 1-1. But a conversion by Skyler Cozzens from a free kick by Dakota Chandler as the buzzer sounded gave East Jackson the 2-1 victory.
The Eagles found themselves down 2-0 at the half, but began to apply more pressure to East Hall in the second half. East Jackson had several scoring opportunities, but came up short each time. Despite strong showings by Nic Alverado and newly promoted goalkeeper Nick Whitmire, East Hall came away with the 6-0 victory.
For more on this story, see Wednesday's edition of The Commerce News or The Jackson Herald.
