North Shelby trio plays for state championships

Published 12:00 am Wednesday, May 9, 2007

Oak Mountain, Briarwood Christian and Indian Springs make up a trio of North Shelby County boys soccer teams advancing to the state final four this weekend in Huntsville.

Oak Mountain visited the Rocket City metro area Friday night to record a 2-1 victory over Bob Jones, as Chandler Hoffman posted a pair of goals.

Hoffman scored four minutes into the game off an assist by Mya Jones and later added the game-winning goal in the 45th minute off an assist by Tommy DePriest.

&8220;(Chandler) was good tonight. We got him the ball in a couple of dangerous spots, and he made it happen,&8221; Oak Mountain head coach Justin Pratt said.

Oak Mountain (18-4-2) had its chances to pull away, but Hoffman missed a penalty kick late in the first half, and Stefan Vazini had a shot bounce off the left post.

Bob Jones scored on a penalty kick by University of Montevallo signee Alex Ghoja in the 15th minute.

Oak Mountain blanked Northridge 5-0 in the first round last Tuesday.

The Eagles face Prattville at 8:15 p.m. Friday. Vestavia Hills meets Enterprise on the other side of the bracket for the right to play in Saturday&8217;s Class 6A championship at 1 p.m.

-Briarwood rolls into semifinal round: Briarwood hit the road Friday to pick up a 6-3 victory at St. Paul&8217;s in Mobile after posting a 3-0 shutout of Sylacauga in the first round.

Briarwood (17-5-2) faces off against John Carroll Friday at 3:45 p.m. with the winner meeting either UMS-Wright or Cullman for the Class 5A title on Saturday at 1 p.m.

-Indian Springs positioned for title rematch with Altamont: Indian Springs survived the first two rounds of the playoffs with a pair of 1-0 victories over Holy Spirit last Tuesday and Houston Acadmey on Saturday.

The wins keep Indian Springs (20-5-2) in position to meet Altamont in the Class 4A-1A state championship on Saturday at 11 a.m., but first ISS must get past Randolph Friday afternoon, and Altamont needs to defeat Mars Hill.

Girls Soccer

-Briarwood living by mercy rule: Briarwood Christian continued their Class 5A title defense last week with 10-0 victories in the first round over Chelsea and in the second round at St. Paul&8217;s.

Each game, BCS enjoyed a large-scoring first half, as Abbie McCary and Morgan Haney each scored two first-half goals against Chelsea, and Lauren Silvio scored a

first-half pair at St. Paul&8217;s.

The Lady Lions (17-3-1) battle Decatur at 1:30 p.m. in a Class 5A semifinal match Friday. With a win, they will play for their second-straight state championship against either John Carroll or Athens at 9 a.m. on Saturday.

-Oak Mountain blanked by Huntsville: Oak Mountain&8217;s playoff run came to an end Saturday in a 2-0 shutout by Huntsville High. The Lady Eagles (14-7-2) posted a 10-0 victory over Northridge last Tuesday. Shannon Lathrop scored three goals in the first-round win, while Marissa Tomasewski added two.

-Indian Springs falls on the road at Trinity: Indian Springs (15-5-1) failed to get many good looks at the Trinity Wildcats&8217; goal Saturday evening in Montgomery, as the Trinity back line helped secure a 1-0 victory.

In the first round, ISS defeated Holy Spirit 8-0 with Anchal Bansal and Devon Weldon scoring three goals each.

-Thompson falls to Vestavia: Mary Morris scored Thompson&8217;s first-ever playoff goal in a 6-1 loss to top-ranked Vestavia Hills last Tuesday