Spring sports round-up: Feb. 29-March 6

Tuesday, March 6

Soccer: EJCHS boys deliver shutout

EAST JACKSON coach Chris Cooley was preaching “shutout” Tuesday and his team delivered a 7-0 road win over Hart County.

“Accordingly, they played solidly in the back line with lots of possession in midfield,” Cooley said.

East Jackson (4-2-1, 1-0) got two scores from Nic Alvarado and a goal each from Luis Ponce, Ernesto Alacron, Jonathan Zarco, Visay Heu and Luis Herrera (normally a goalie) in a rare appearance in the field as East Jackson rolled to an easy win. Zarco finished with three assists.

“Our boys passed the ball well and played a strong defensive game as Iasked them to, so this is a good start to region play for us,” Cooley said.

Soccer: EJCHS girls get hat trick from Smith in rout

LED BY Hayleigh Smith’s three goals, East Jackson trounced Hart County 7-0 Tuesday on the road.

The Lady Eagles (2-3-1, 1-0) also got two goals from Jessica Wells, while Skyler Cozzens and Cassidy Steel each added a score as East Jackson recorded its first subregion win.

Saturday, March 3

Track: East Jackson’s Pirtle enjoys record-setting performance at Eagle Inv.

EAST Jackson senior Cale Pirtle won the 1,600 meters Saturday at the Eagle Invitational but his second-place finish in the 3,200 meters might have been more noteworthy.

Pirtle ran a 10:22.71 to set the new school mark in that event, finishing only two seconds behind Parkview’s Nick Schofer.

Paired with his first-place finish in the 1,600 meters (4:48), Pirtle accounted for 18 of East Jackson’s 32 points.

The host Eagles finished fifth overall in the 11-team field.

Montel Reynolds added a pair of third-place finishes in the 110-meter hurdles (17.41 seconds) and the 300-meter hurdles (44.48 seconds). Also scoring for East Jackson in its season-opener were Ronnie Slizewksi (sixth, pole vault, 11-00)) and Jeff Chandler (sixth, shot put, 41-3).

East Jackson’s girls, with 7.6 points, finished 10th out of 11 teams.

Lauren Sanders enjoyed the top performance of the day for the Lady Eagles with a third-place finish in the 100-meter hurdles (17.91 seconds).

Friday, March 2

Soccer: Lady Eagles enjoy solid defensive effort in 1-1 tie with Apalachee

THE EAST Jackson girls’ soccer team tied Class AAAA Apalachee 1-1 Friday in the Lady Eagles’ final game before the start of subregion play.

Jessica Wells scored the lone goal for East Jackson.

“We played a great defensive game against a good team,” said coach Randy Hill, who added that East Jackson had its chances to score but couldn’t capitalize. “We are starting to come together as a team. ’One heart, one team’ is our motto.”

Soccer: Slow-starting Eagles fall at Apalachee

EAST Jackson’s boys’ soccer team (3-2-1) rallied from an early 4-0 deficit but still fell 6-3 to Class AAAA Apalachee Friday on the road.

The Eagles gave up four goals in a 15-minute stretch in the first half before settling down in the second half. East Jackson countered with scores from Jake Pitcher, Austin Lumpkin and Jonathan Zarco to cut the lead to 4-3.

But Apalachee caught the Eagles with a counter attack and scored with 15 minutes left to go up 5-3. The Wildcats added another score as they salted away their first win of the year.

“Apalachee has a very strong team and there's no shame in losing to them, but when we played our game we were really on form and in control,” East Jackson coach Chris Cooley said. “Weather was a big factor with driving rain through much of the second half and very slippery conditions for the players.”

Wednesday, Feb. 29

Soccer: East Jackson boys move to 3-1-1 with win over Athens Academy

EAST Jackson (3-1-1) defeated Athens Academy Wednesday night 2-1, winning on penalty kicks.

Luis Ponce, Austin Lumpkin, Ernesto Alarcon and Connor Kozlosky scored for the Eagles during the penalty kick period. Kozlosky’s kick secured the win. Luis Herrera had two saves during PKs.

Jonathan Zarco scored on a header during the first five minutes of regulation for East Jackson and the Eagles led 1-0 at the half. Athens Academy tied the game in the second half.

The game went to penalty kicks following two five-minute overtime periods with no score.

Soccer: East Jackson girls fall 5-2 to Athens Academy

SKYLER Cozzens and Jessica Wells scored Wednesday for East Jackson (2-3) but it wasn’t enough in a 5-2 loss to Athens Academy.

“We had several missed opportunities but just did not capitalize,” coach Randy Hill said. “We had some poor marks on the defensive third, but worked it out as the game went on. We still need to work better as a team and play with a lot more heart. We have had a few hiccups, but we will keep plugging away.”