By John Breech/ STAFF

For the Roswell boy’s soccer team, the significance of last Tuesday night’s game against Pope couldn’t be overstated. Win and the team would earn their first state playoff berth in three years; Lose and the season would come to a crashing end.

Thanks to Spring Break and a 15-day layoff between games, the Hornets showed a little bit of rust early as Pope was able to knock one through the net within the first 10 minutes of play. However, a Shane Rushing goal with 12 minutes left in the game proved to be the difference as Roswell held on to edge Pope 3-2. With the win, the Hornets laid claim to the fourth and final state tournament spot out of region 6.

Hornet head coach Bob Rumble was excited about his team’s win, “First time in three years, it’s huge,” he said. “Our seniors were freshmen the last time we went [to the state tournament]. We’re excited to be in it and we’re looking forward to it.”

For Roswell, things looked dicey early when Pope’s Mark Gabriel knocked one through the net in the 10th minute. Gabriel intercepted a bad goal kick by Hornet goalie Quentin Smith; he then broke away toward the Roswell goal and fired a shot that Smith had no chance of stopping.

The early Greyhound goal could have been devastating, but the Hornets were able to get it back eight minutes later. Most soccer fans have heard the term “bend it like Beckham,” well they might want to start learning a new phrase, “fade it like Fazio,” as in Roswell’s Nico Fazio. The senior forward did something rarely seen at the high school level, he scored on a corner kick. Fazio’s shot from the right corner curved just past the outreaching hands of Greyhound goalie Chris Najeway to tie the game at one. Even Rumble was amazed at the shot, “It was sweet,” the veteran coach said.

Rushing would make an assist on a Auddie Hynd goal just before halftime that gave the Hornets a 2-1 lead at the break. However, the start of the second half was a mirror image of the first, which was bad news for Roswell. Once again, Pope was able to get a score within the first 10 minutes. This time, Pope’s Sean Pinto stole the ball from a Hornet defender and finished the play with an easy put-in, a basketball coach might have called the goal a lay-up.

The 2-2 tie stuck for almost 20 minutes until Rushing was able to knock in the game-winning goal. Rushing took a pass in the middle of Pope’s goalie box from teammate Cameroon Magoon, he was then able to sneak one by a diving Najeway.

Rumble knew his veterans would take over after Pope tied the game, “It took us awhile to settle back down [after Pope’s 2nd half score],” says Rumble. “We got out of sorts for a few minutes, but I think when you have so many seniors like we do, they settle down, they’ve been through this thing before, they’ve played a thousand games.”

Roswell will be back in action Wednesday when they travel to Harrison to take on the state’s sixth ranked Hoya’s in first round tournament play.

Centennial Wins Region 6

While Roswell was in a battle for the final region 6 playoff spot, it was a battle of the unbeatens at Centennial High School Thursday night. The Knights hosted Walton with the winner earning the number one seed out of region 6. Centennial’s Junior Sandoval was a one-man show, scoring two goals in his team’s 2-1 win over the Raiders. Well, it wasn’t quite a one-man show. Sandoval received some pivotal help from Mitch Williams and Andrew Lord, both of whom assisted on a goal. The Knights victory has ensured them home-field throughout the state playoffs. Centennial will open up their state playoff run Wednesday when they play host to South Cobb High School.?Coach Phil Thomas knows his team is ready for the big dance, “They’re fired up,” he says. “I think [last season’s 5-4 quarterfinal loss to East Coweta] has been driving them all year.”