Chattahoochee is one of the early surprises in Class AAAAAA boys soccer.
After missing the playoffs last season, the Cougars started 9-0 — they play Tuesday night against Northview — and ranked in the top 5. Chattahoochee coach Les Meenan said momentum started building at the end of last season, when the Cougars won their last five matches, including a big victory against third-ranked Centennial.
“Our start has surprised everyone, including ourselves,” said Meenan, an Irishman in his 16th season at Chattahoochee. “But after we beat Lambert (3-2 on Feb. 27), I thought we could be pretty good.”
Senior goalkeeper Dara Mansouri’s save on a penalty kick bolstered the Lambert victory. Senior midfielder Owen Ferreira and junior outside striker Shane Burke have thrived in a new formation that Meenan installed in the offseason.
“We’re much more fluid, less constrained,” Meenan said.
Rough region: In last year's playoffs, Dawson County had a 1-0 lead against eventual Class AAA state champion St. Pius X with eight minutes to play. St. Pius scored on a penalty kick to force overtime and prevailed in 15 rounds of penalty kicks.
“It hurt,” Dawson County coach Jed Lacey said. “These kids felt the pain of that last year and that’s what they’re living on this year.”
The Tigers (8-2-1) began the week ranked No. 1 in AAA. They’ve picked up impressive victories against Blessed Trinity and Walker, with their only loss coming to ranked Class AAAAAA power Wheeler. Lacey says a difficult non-region schedule prepared his team for one of the tougher regions in the state. Region 7-AAA opened the week with three ranked teams: No. 1 Dawson County, No. 5 West Hall and No. 8 East Hall.
Remembering a captain: A ceremony will be held at Wednesday's Newton-Alcovy game to remember Newton junior captain Carlvon Betts, who died March 11 from injuries sustained in a car accident. The game will be played at 5:30 p.m. at Sharp Stadium in Covington. Newton coach Sam Noland called Betts one of the team's top playmakers and a college prospect. "He was one of our leaders," Noland said. "He was one of the kids that the younger kids looked up to."
Notes: Peachtree Ridge has two junior goal-scorers off to hot starts. Through nine games, Won Il Lee has scored eight goals and Sam Aiken has added six. … Southwest DeKalb and Towers began the week with two players ranked in the top 10 in DeKalb County scoring. Towers senior Kerry Mondesir leads the county with 15 goals, followed by Southwest DeKalb junior Seriki Sultan, who has 12 goals. Southwest DeKalb sophomore Machop Chol has eight goals and Towers junior Michael Manning has scored seven times.
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