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By ANDREW SIMONSON | Sports Editor

COLUMBIANA – The Montevallo Bulldogs continued their strong area form as they secured a pair of big wins over the rival Shelby County Wildcats to sweep the season series between the local foes.

Montevallo’s boys team won 6-0 on Thursday, April 10 at Papa McCombs Stadium in Columbiana after the girls emerged with an 11-1 victory.

The boys game played out to a scoreless draw through 25 minutes before the Bulldogs broke through with the opening goal.

Irving Choto scored in the 25th minute to put Montevallo up 1-0, and the floodgates opened from there. Christian Diaz followed it up with a goal in the 28th minute, and seven minutes after that score, Jan Carlo Velasco made it three goals in 11 minutes as he made the lead 3-0.

That lead held through the halftime break before the Bulldogs went back to work to finish off the victory in the second half.

Just like in the first half, Choto sparked a scoring rally when he scored his second goal of the match in the 51st minute. With the lead now 4-0, the Alvarenga cousins followed that up with a pair of goals in quick succession.

Junior Alvarenga scored in the 57th minute to get the lead up to 5-0, and Arturo Alvarenga joined his cousin a minute later with a goal as Montevallo led 6-0 after 58 minutes of play.

That lead held through the final 22 minutes of the match, giving the Bulldogs another area victory and their second of the year over Shelby County.

As for the girls, while they gave up a goal to the Wildcats, Montevallo’s offense had a strong evening as it eclipsed the double-digit mark on the scoreboard.

The Bulldogs finished the match with 11 goals to trigger the mercy rule as they secured the 11-1 victory.

Zabdy Perez and Violeta Cervantes each finished the match with a hat trick as each player had three goals apiece in the win. Nicole Almora Sosa scored two goals for Montevallo while Bella Waddell, Alondra Torres and Kaylee Ray secured a goal apiece, with Ray’s coming off a penalty kick.

As for Shelby County, Isabella Grubbs scored a goal to help the Wildcats avoid getting shut out.

Montevallo’s boys improved to 12-3-2 overall and 5-1 in area play with the win while the girls are 11-4-1 overall and 5-1 in the area. Both will play their penultimate area game on Monday, April 14 at home against Sipsey Valley, with the girls game at 5:30 and the boys set to start at 7:15 p.m.

Shelby County’s boys dropped to 3-8 overall and 2-5 in area play, and the girls are now 3-5 overall and 2-5 in the area. Both will host the Tarrant Wildcats on Tuesday, April 15 at Papa McCombs Stadium with the girls game set for 5:30 p.m. and the boys set to kick off at 7:30 p.m.