Jacksonville youth soccer teams advance to state

By Lori Tippets
Jacksonville News

Jacksonville’s 9 and Under soccer team came back from the Alabama Recreation and Parks Association State Soccer Tournament held in Dothan with a second place trophy. The team, coached by Russ Payne and assisted by Daniel Baer and Tyler Marbut, beat Prattville, Dothan and Gulf Shores to advance to the championship game against Alex City.

Both Jacksonville’s 9 and Under soccer team and 11 and Under soccer team earned the right to go to Dothan when they won the District championship.

The 11 and under team, coached by Wayne Green, assisted by Mike Rollins and Lindsey Norris, played well at the state tournament but just couldn’t get past some very tough competition, beating Orange Beach 5-1, but going down in defeat to Troy 1-0, and Prattville 5-1.

The 9 and Under team started off the state tournament with a 3-1 win over Prattville. Josh Wilson put two in the net for Jacksonville and Chance Marbut added one. Jacksonville midfielders, Anna Craven, Virginia Poe, Landon Price, Jeremiah Sims, Derrick Baer, Royce Brown and Drennen Beam kept the ball in Prattville territory for most of the game.

In the second game Jacksonville won 2-1 over the Dothan Nationals. The game was tied at one at the end of regulation, with Josh Wilson having scored Jacksonville’s only goal. In the shootout, Jacksonville won with Josh Wilson, Chance Marbut, BJ Murphy and Luke Sides all hitting for the Jacksonville team.

Game three saw Jacksonville shutting out Gulf Shores 2-0. Once again a strong Jacksonville defense consisting of Spencer Pace, Luke Sides, Jordan Terry, Virginia Poe, Jacob McCreless and Michael Rouch took control of the game not allowing Gulf Shores the chance to score. Phillip Hauser and BJ Murphy scored the goals that put Jacksonville in the championship game.

Jacksonville met its match when they faced a very strong Alex City team for the championship. Alex City, strong on both sides of the ball, shut out Jacksonville 5-0.

Matthew Payne, who has played outstanding at goalie throughout the season, was in goalie during the entire tournament and did an excellent job at keeping the opponent from scoring, allowing Jacksonville the chance to play for the first place trophy.

The 9 and Under team reached the state tournament after having gone 3-0 in the District Tournament to claim the first place trophy. Jacksonville downed Piedmont, Anniston and Centre.

Against Piedmont, both teams played a tough defensive battle, with Jacksonville coming out on top 2-1. The game was tied at the end of regulation 1-1, with Phillip Hauser having scored Jacksonville’s only goal. During the shootout, with each team getting five penalty shots on goal, Josh Wilson, Chance Marbut, and Spencer Pace all scored for Jacksonville, while Piedmont missed their shots.

Jacksonville faced Anniston in game two of the district tournament and came away with a 1-0 win. Josh Wilson scored for Jacksonville, then the defense, led by Luke Sides, Spencer Pace, Jordan Terry and goalie Matthew Payne took over to keep Anniston from scoring.

In the district championship game, Jacksonville had no trouble shutting out Centre 8-0. BJ Murphy had the hot foot for Jacksonville scoring four goals, Josh Wilson added two and Derrick Baer and Landon Price scored one each.

After having a relatively easy time winning the District Tournament, Coach Wayne Green’s 11 and Under team found things a little bit tougher at the state tournament.

In the first game, Jacksonville came on strong against Orange Beach, winning 5-1. Scoring for Jacksonville were Jared Green with two goals, and Sharon Osterbind, Portia Sims and Seth Godwin with one goal each.

Jacksonville lost to Troy 1-0, then to an undefeated Prattville team 5-1. Sharon Osterbind scored the lone goal against Prattville.

Coach Green praised his team saying, “Everyone played well against tough competition.”

Jacksonville won the District IV Under 11 All Star tournament at Fort McClellan by beating Oxford and Piedmont.

Winning 5-0 over Oxford, Jared Green came away with the hat trick for Jacksonville scoring three goals, and Sharon Osterbind and Mason Rollins chipped in one goal each.

Jacksonville scored two goals in the first half of the game against Piedmont then held on to win 2-1.

Jared Green and Portia Sims scored the two goals.

Goalie Kaila Green played excellent defense for Jacksonville, stopping several attempts on goal, and allowed only one goal to get past her during the district tournament.

Jacksonville made it a clean sweep, with all three teams — 13 and Under, 11 and Under and 9 and Under All-Stars — all advancing to the state tournament in Dothan.

The 13 and Under team joined the 9 and Under All-Stars taking second-place honors.

The 13 and Under team, runner-up in the district tournament, also took third place in the Governor’s Cup, the Alabama Premier Championship.

At the state tournament, the Eagles played hard in pool play, recording wins over Sylacauga and Gulf Shores, losing only to Troy.

Winning their pool, the Eagles advanced to the state championship game, losing to a strong Dothan team.

Against Sylacauga, the Eagles were the underdog to a Sylacauga team that entered the game undefeated and unscored upon. The Eagles turned the tables, downing Sylacauga 2-1.

The next game saw the Eagles lose a heartbreaker 2-1 in an overtime shoot out with Troy. The score had been tied 1-1 at the end of regulation.

Jacksonville played in another overtime in game three, but this time came out victorious beating Gulf Shores 3-2.

Jacksonville had fallen behind early in the must-win game and with just five minutes remaining in the second half trailed Gulf Shores 2-0. A furious rally by Jacksonville tied the game as time ran out in regulation play. After the first round of shoot out the scored was tied 3-3. The game went into a sudden-death shoot out which was won by the Eagles.

In the championship game against Dothan, the Eagles kept up in the first half, but fell in the second half to a larger and older Dothan team.

Members of the 13 and Under all-star state runner-up team are: Taylor Adams, Kelsey Cain, Christopher Strott, Matthew Strott, Joe Ferguson, Drew Patrick, Nate Owens, Lakken Wood, Blake Graham, Josh Willis, Allie Curl, Kendra Stewart, Emily Torruella, Gavilan Brown and Christian Vital.

Head coach for the Jacksonville team was Bill Adams.