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By ALEC ETHEREDGE | Managing Editor

CALERA – The Pelham and Calera boys and girls soccer teams met in Calera on Thursday, March 17 in two important area battles, and neither disappointed.

In the boys matchup, both teams entered undefeated in area play, meaning the winner would walk out atop the first standings as the only undefeated team left in the area.

And the game was played like two teams battling for that spot.

In a game that was a tightly-contested and low-scoring battle throughout, the two teams fought to a 1-1 tie at the end of regulation.

That score also held up at the end of the two extra overtime period, forcing penalty kicks to determine a winner.

In PKs, the two continued matching each other, leading to a thrilling finish.

Each shot was matched from the two teams through the first six kicks. That, however, changed in the seventh round when the Panthers finished off a perfect 7-7 showing in PKs, which set the stage for the win after KJ Godwin picked up the game-winning save to give Pelham the win.

With the win, Pelham won its eighth consecutive game to improve to 11-3 overall. More importantly, the Panthers improved to 2-0 in area play with a 7-0 win against Chilton County and the 2-1 (PK) win against Calera.

The Eagles, who entered the game on a three-game win streak, are now 2-1 in area play and 6-4 overall.

In the girls game, it was Calera who walked away victorious following a thrilling battle.

Calera bounced back from two straight losses of 4-1 and 5-1 with the victory and looked like the team that started 6-0-1 with a combined 52 goals in the first seven games.

The Eagles are now 7-2-1 overall and 2-1 in area play. They have outscored opponents by a combined score of 61-17.

Pelham had a four-game win streak snapped with the loss, as the Panthers fell to 8-2-1 overall and 1-1 in area play.