Model, Armuchee win Floyd County’s first soccer titles since 1971 with Class A Division I sweep

“I almost don’t have the words,” Armuchee coach Jason Park said. “From day one, this is one of the goals this team talked about, winning our county, winning a region title and winning a state championship. And I’m so proud of all the people from our schools and our community who came out to support us ... from Model, Coosa, Rome, all over. This was a big win for all of Floyd County.”

The only other Floyd County team with a soccer title was Darlington’s boys in 1971. That was a shared championship as Darlington, a private school, tied Briarcliff in the final.

Model defender Jordyn Merritt, her team’s only senior, wiped away tears as she and her teammates were awarded the championship trophy.

“This just seems ... not real,” Merritt said. “It feels like everything I imagined and so much more. It’s just overwhelming. This makes all the hard work in the offseason worth it. There is just so much joy on our team right now. It feels like fireworks are going off inside me.”

Model’s championship was the school’s first in a girls sport since the 1995 track and field title. The win exacted revenge from Model’s only loss, a 2-0 overtime defeat at Bremen on March 28.

Model (17-1) recorded its 12th shutout and fifth straight in the state tournament. Model outscored its opponents 80-8 this season.

“Our defense has been incredible, and it’s been our whole team — our defenders, goalkeepers and midfielders,” Model coach Lauren Jones. “To have a performance like this, in such a pressure situation, speaks volumes about them. And Jordyn, being our only senior on the field, she is just so special and such a great leader.”

It was a scoreless first half until the 19th minute, when Allmon broke free from the defense up the middle, moved to her right, beat the goalkeeper and launched a sharply angled shot into the left corner from eight yards out for a 1-0 lead.

Seven minutes later, Allmon had a shot deflected, but Mary Silver collected the rebound and chipped in a shot over the goalkeeper’s head from 20 yards away and a 2-0 lead.

It stayed that way until 23 minutes were left in the game, when Allmon delivered the dagger on a six-yard shot up the middle after beating the goalkeeper one-on-one.

The Armuchee boys had never appeared in the soccer finals, and no Armuchee team had won a championship in a spring sport.

DeHart, who is heading to Shorter University next year to continue his soccer career, said that his team may have been nervous early in Tuesday’s match.

“I think maybe the day or two before this, we had some nerves, but I think as we got into it, we got into the mindset of it just being another game,” DeHart said. “I believe in our guys — we have such a great group — and even though I maybe played a little bit nervous early, the guys still believed in me. ... This is a great way to end things here at Armuchee.”

Credit: Jeff Gable

Credit: Jeff Gable

Armuchee (15-5) scored first five minutes in when striker Mikey Aldana’s shot was deflected into the goal by a Thomasville defender. But Thomasville evened the score five minute later, when Gio Ulloa ripped a left-footed shot from 15 yards away into the goal after stealing the ball in the box.

Thomasville then took a 2-1 lead in the 23rd minute when Ulloa dribbled up the middle and placed a shot just inside the left post from 10 yards out. In the final 30 seconds of the first half, Armuchee leveled the score on a beautified goal by DeHart, as he angled a shot into the upper left corner from eight yards away, and it was knotted at 2-2 heading into the break.

DeHart hammered home a goal from 12 yards away in the 48th minute to push Armuchee back in front, but Thomasville rallied again, this time scoring the tying goal on a shot from 20 yards out into the right corner by Farid Gonzalez in the 58th minute.

Armuchee then scored what would be the game-winning goal in the 61st minute, when DeHart collected his own deflected shot and tapped it in from eight yards away. Armuchee’s defense preserved the win with solid play in the back. Armuchee allowed just six shots to Thomasville, only two in the second half. Goalkeeper Jonah Meyer had three saves.

Model and Armuchee lost to private schools in the 2024 playoffs. Model’s loss came in the Class 2A semifinals to Mount Paran Christian. This year, private schools in classes 3A to A are playing in a private-only state tournament, opening up opportunities for smaller public schools.