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By ANDREW SIMONSON | Sports Editor

ALABASTER – The Thompson Warriors welcomed some of the best teams in the region to Thompson High School for the annual Warrior Invitational, and both teams picked up key victories during the three-day event.

Thompson’s boys soccer team defeated the Helena Huskies 4-2 on Thursday, Feb. 27 before knocking off the then-No. 6 Vestavia Hills Rebels in a 3-0 game on Saturday, March 1.

The girls bounced back from a 2-0 defeat to a ranked Hewitt-Trussville Huskies team on Thursday, Feb. 27 to defeat the Foley Lions 4-1 and Northridge Jaguars 1-0 on Saturday, March 1.

In the boys’ first game of the tournament, Thompson had to fight back early when Helena scored the game’s opening goal to go up 1-0 on the Warriors’ home turf.

Thompson gave a quick response though. Colton Burnett found Hudson Aaron to generate a chance, and the junior equalized to send the teams to the break tied at 1-1.

The Warriors burst out of the gate in the second half and scored three straight goals to bust the game wide open. Dylan Huerta’s throw-in found Yair Santana for the go-ahead goal to put Thompson up 2-1.

From there, Aram Arreola’s corner kick led to a goal from sophomore Brayden Herrera to take the lead to 3-1. Burnett then added an assist to his goal from earlier by finding Huerta to grow the Warriors’ advantage to three goals.

Thompson nearly added a fifth goal off a corner kick, but the official called it back. The Huskies later got a goal back off a strong shot to cut the deficit to 4-2, but the Warriors held Helena scoreless from there to take a two-goal win.

Two days later, Thompson found itself in an even bigger challenge against Vestavia Hills, but just like Thursday night, it got the early advantage.

With the Rebels keeper off his line, Aram Arreola picked out Huerta up top with a pass, and Huerta finished it off with a one-touch volley to the back post for the opening goal.

That 1-0 lead held until halftime, but the Warriors continued to press the advantage on both fronts in the second half.

Thompson ramped up its press and would draw a penalty kick as a result of the advanced play up front. Arreola converted from the spot to double up the lead.

The Warriors would then get another chance off a set piece that Santana scored off of to take the lead to 3-0.

Thompson kept Vestavia Hills scoreless for the entirety of the match to secure the clean sheet and the three-goal victory.

In the girls games, the Warriors recovered from a shutout loss to Hewitt-Trussville to outpace the winless Foley Lions two days later.

Charlie Gantt got the offense going early on by scoring a pair of goals. Gantt picked up a chance from Helen Adan to score her first goal while she was on the end of a connection with Dia Montiel-Duenas for the second to secure the brace.

After assisting the first goal, Adan found the back of the goal for herself thanks to help from Luna Montiel-Duenas, who joined her sister with an assist on the morning.

Dia Montiel-Duenas then capped off the scoring thanks to Adan’s second assist of the day to secure the 4-1 win.

Gantt led the offense with two goals while Adan’s two assists and a goal were also crucial in the victory along with Dia Montiel-Duenas’ goal and an assist.

On Saturday, Thompson faced a much stiffer test from a strong Northridge team.

However, the Warriors defense stood strong throughout the match, securing a clean sheet while setting up the offense to capitalize.

Thompson needed just one opportunity to get into the back of the net as Gantt sent a chance over to Nathalie Gonzalez, who scored to secure the game’s lone goal and take the 1-0 win.

The Warriors boys improved to 6-3-1 and No. 5 in the Class 7A rankings with the victories while the girls are now 6-3-1 and No. 10 in the classification. Both will kick off area play on Wednesday, March 5 on the road at Tuscaloosa County with the boys playing at 5 p.m. and the girls set for a 6:30 p.m. kickoff.

Helena could not walk away with a victory in the Warrior Invitational. The girls fell 3-0 to Hewitt-Trussville on Friday, Feb. 27 before drawing 2-2 with Foley later in the night. They then took a 6-0 loss to Vestavia Hills on Saturday, March 1.

The boys would go on to lose 1-0 to Vestavia Hills on Friday, Feb. 27 after their Thursday loss to Thompson.

The girls will be off until Tuesday, March 11 at 5:30 p.m. when they kick off area play at Bessemer City while the boys will host Thompson in a rematch on Thursday, March 6 at 7 p.m. in hopes of following up their 11-1 win on Monday, March 3 against Shelby County.