PCHS’s Lady Bears and Bears soccer programs will play for their respective Region 3AA championships after posting semifinal victories.
The seventh-ranked No. 1 seed Lady Bears (9-3) posted a school-record ninth consecutive shutout beating Appling County 6-0 Friday, March 27 in the first round of the region tournament. They broke the school mark of seven straight shutouts in the 8-0 home win over the Lady Pirates March 20.
Liza Thornton netted two goals to lead the way. Brylee Walker (assist), Nevaeh Grant (assist), Jayli Sierra and Emma Strickland (assist) added a goal apiece.
Also assisting on goals were Maya Cochran and Sylvie Branch.
The back line of defense consisting of Addie Jordan, Aly Yeomans, Kaylee Figueroa and Blair Bennett kept the Lady Pirates off the board.
The Lady Bears have outscored the opposition 45-0 during the nine-match winning streak.
PCHS will host third-ranked and secondseed Savannah Arts Academy (SAA) (9-3) in the region championship match Thursday, April 2 at 5 p.m.
The Lady Bears captured the regular season meeting 1-0 at home February 20 over the then top-ranked Lady Panthers. SAA has won six consecutive matches by a cumulative score of 35-1. The Lady Panthers knocked third-seed Tattnall County 3-1 in the region semis.
The fourth-seed Bears (10-3) advanced to the championship upsetting top-seed host Crisp County (10-3) 3-2 Friday, March 27 in the shootout phase ending the Cougars’ nine match winning streak. PCHS lost 2-0 March 16 at Crisp County in the regular season meeting.
The match was tied at 1-apiece at the end of the first half and at the end of regulation. The Bears scored a goal in the first 10-minute overtime period with Crisp County scoring in the second OT period forcing a shootout tied at 2all. PCHS scored on all five kicks with the Cougars netting four kicks to escape with the win.
Winners of four straight, Pierce County travels Friday, April 3 to 10th-ranked Savannah Arts Academy (8-5), the No. 2 seed, to play for the region title, The Panthers, winners of four straight, knocked off seventh-ranked and third-seed Appling County 1-0 in the other semifinal pairing. SAA beat the Bears 1-0 in a February 20 regular season match in Bearville.
