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By ANDREW SIMONSON | Sports Editor

INDIAN SPRINGS SCHOOL – The road to the state championship started with a bang for Indian Springs School as its boys and girls soccer teams rolled to first-round victories on their home pitch.

Indian Springs’ boys defeated the Valley Rams 8-1 on Friday, April 25 at Indian Springs School after the girls dispatched the Beauregard Hornets 10-0 beforehand.

Springs entered the Class 5A state tournament with plenty of momentum as both the boys and girls won the Class 5A, Area 8 championship.

The girls emerged with an undefeated 8-0 record to secure the top seed while the boys finished 7-1 with their lone loss coming in a 1-0 defeat to Montevallo in their final area match.

The championships also secured home-pitch advantage through the first two rounds of the state tournament, something that Indian Springs took full advantage of on the night.

Springs started out the evening with a big win over a 3-13-1 Hornets team. Indian Springs raced ahead to an early multi-goal lead and never looked back.

A lockdown performance on defense kept Beauregard out of the back of the net, and Springs used that to end the match early after their 10th goal of the match, securing the 10-0 mercy-rule win to advance to the second round with ease.

After that, the boys followed suit and dominated the opening 40 minutes against a 5-8-2 Valley side.

Indian Springs scored the opening goal of the match and added four more after that in the opening half, racing ahead to a 5-0 lead before the halftime whistle blew.

The Rams managed to break through the Springs defense in the second half to avoid getting shut out, but the hosts continued to be the better side through the final minutes. Indian Springs added three goals to its tally before the full-time mark and increased its lead to seven.

That helped pave the way for an 8-1 victory over Valley and a spot in the next round of the playoffs.

Indian Springs’ girls will host the Sylacauga Aggies on Tuesday, April 29 at 5 p.m. at Indian Springs School in the second round of the Class 5A girls soccer playoffs. The boys will be in action after that as they look to avenge their loss to the Montevallo Bulldogs at 7 p.m.