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By ALEC ETHEREDGE | Managing Editor

ALEXANDER CITY – The Calera boys and girls soccer teams went on the road on Tuesday, April 18 and picked up area wins that cemented an area championship for each team.

Neither win came easy, as both were decided by one goal, with the girls winning 4-3 over Benjamin Russell and the boys taking down the Wildcats 1-0 with a 5-4 effort in penalty kicks.

Not only did the wins give the Eagles a pair of area championships, but both teams finished off area play with a perfect 4-0 record.

The girls picked up a thrilling one-goal victory in regulation, picking up a 4-3 win over Benjamin Russell and completing the area sweep of the Wildcats.

It marked Calera’s second win in a row after taking down Pell City 4-1 on April 11. The Eagles finished area play with wins of 4-3 and 3-2 against Benjamin Russell, with those two one-goal games making the difference in the area championship, while they swept Chilton County with wins of 8-2 and 10-0.

Now 8-9-2 on the season, the Eagles will host a first-round playoff matchup.

The boys will get the same honor after a thrilling win over the Wildcats of their own. The Eagles battled for 80 minutes in a defensive slugfest with no goals scored, leading to overtime between the two.

At that point, they had already locked up the area championship due to goal differential, but the Eagles wanted to make sure to leave no doubt and finish area play undefeated.

They picked up a tightly-contested 5-4 penalty-kick win to snap Benjamin Russell’s eight-game win streak. In the meantime, Calera continued its win streak by picking up the team’s fifth win in a row.

The boys are now 7-2 over the last nine games and improved to 10-3-1 overall on the season with the playoffs now pending.