AMERICUS —
The Americus-Sumter boy’s soccer team had high expectations entering the 2013 season. After winning the school’s first region soccer title last season and returning all but one senior, the Panthers were expected to have a very successful season with another run at the Region 1-AAAA Championship and a state playoff berth. After defeating the AAAAAA Valdosta High School Wildcats last week, the Panthers once again knocked off a much larger school on Tuesday night when they defeated AAAAA Lee County 2-1 in a comeback performance fueled by junior Edin Ancelmo.
The Americus-Sumter Lady Panthers opened the night on Tuesday with a 10-0 mercy rule-shortened loss to the Lady Trojans of Lee County. The loss for Americus-Sumter drops their record to 0-2 on the season after falling to Valdosta by the same score last week. Lady Panther head coach John Daughety said that the Lady Panthers are a solid young team that has the potential to be special this season. “I have always said that to get better you have to play the best which is why we opened up against two great soccer programs. I thought that tonight we played much better in the second half and this team has a lot of talent that will continue to improve.”
With Lee County already claiming one victory in the double-header the Panthers took the field against a stout AAAAA Trojan team. Despite fielding a smaller team of players than the visiting Trojans, Americus-Sumter came out early controlling the contest by keeping the ball on their opponent’s side of the field.
Inside of the 10 minute mark the only two shots on goal were from Americus-Sumter’s Tylen Pepito and Edin Ancelmo. Pepito, a sophomore who later left the contest with an injury, missed just high with the Panthers first shot of the game and Ancelmo also missed the mark high on Americus-Sumter’s second shot.
At the 24 minute mark Ancelmo would get another opportunity to score, but a great block by the Lee County keeper would again keep the Panthers off of the scoreboard. Lee County would finally find enough offense to get onto the Panthers side of the field, and Americus-Sumter would be called for a foul inside of the box to set up a Trojan penalty kick. On the kick, Panther goal tender Alex Brown would narrowly miss the block, and in the 30th minute of the game Lee County claimed a 1-0 lead.
The lead would remain at 1-0 until the halftime break thanks to a spectacular diving block by Brown that got the home crowd fired up just before the break. The Panthers would take advantage of the momentum going into the break by coming out of the intermission on fire. Ancelmo would finally find his mark in the 43rd minute of the game on a breakaway goal to tie the game, and less than four minutes later he would once again find the back of the net to give the Panthers a 2-1 lead early in the second half.
From that point on the defense would take over for Americus-Sumter as the Panthers continued to keep the ball away from their own goal. When the Trojans did get close in the final 10 minutes of the game Brown turned them away with two huge saves to seal the victory.
The win for Americus-Sumter pushes their 2013 record to 2-0 with two very impressive come-from-behind wins over much larger schools.
Americus-Sumter will now hit the road for their next three contests of the season. The Panthers and Lady Panthers will travel to Rochelle to take on Mary Persons on Friday before traveling to Worth County on Tuesday, February 26 and Crisp County on Friday, March 1 to open their Region 1-AAAA play. Americus-Sumter will return home on Tuesday, March 5 in their next home game against Albany High School. All girl’s games will begin at 5:30 p.m., followed by the boy’s games at 7:30 p.m.
Local Sports
Related Photos
-
Edin Ancelmo (9) scored both of Americus-Sumter’s goals on Tuesday to lead the Panthers to a 2-1 win over Lee County. Scott Phillips
Panther soccer takes down another powerful opponent, girls fall 10-0
- Local Sports
-
-
Booker’s individual title leads Lady Wildcats to 2013 State Championship
After winning eight of their nine matches this season and dominating the Area 1 Public meet by 53 strokes over their closest opponent, the Schley County Lady Wildcats golf team achieved their ultimate goal on Monday by winning the GHSA Class A Public State Championship at Highland Walk Golf Course in Royston, Ga.
-
Gahman finishes in top 20 at NCAA Division II National Championships
Georgia Southwestern senior Nate Gahman fired a final round 73 on Wednesday to tie for 19th place overall out of 108 golfers at the three-day NCAA Division II National Championships.
-
Hawkins named All-State, Hanson All-Region for Lady Raiders
Head coach Michael Pepito and the Southland Academy Lady Raiders soccer team received some good news recently when they learned that junior defender Quinn Hanson and sophomore forward Ella Hawkins were named to the GISA Region 3-AAA All-Region team. The good news got even better as the GISA AAA All-State selections were released with Hawkins claiming one of the 18 spots for the top players in the state.
-
Four Hurricanes earn All-PBC academic baseball honors
Georgia Southwestern State University seniors Randall Sheffield, Frank Ambrosino, junior Jarrod Taylor and sophomore Les Cromer have earned 2013 Peach Belt Conference All-Academic baseball honors as recently announced by the conference office. Sheffield was named to the All-Academic Team while Ambrosino, Taylor and Cromer received honorable mentions.
-
Raiders drop two to Mount de Sales to end postseason run
The 2013 Southland Academy Raider baseball team advanced to the second round for the first time in many years after taking down Loganville Christian Academy in the first round of the GISA Class AAA playoffs last week. The Raiders were hoping to keep that run going against Mount de Sales in the quarterfinals this week, but after a big inning cost Southland in game one on Thursday, the Cavaliers of Mount de Sales used a late inning comeback in game two on Saturday to advance to the semifinals and end the Raiders season.
-
Americus-Sumter star athlete Kayla Bowens signs with Albany State
Every signing is a special signing for Americus-Sumter Lady Panther head coach Evelyn Wright. While Wright’s main job is to make her team well-rounded and competitive in GHSA Class AAAA competition, the long-time Lady Panther coach takes great pride when one of her players realizes a dream of playing college basketball. Friday morning’s signing ceremony tugged at the heart strings a little more, however, as Wright watched her granddaughter Kayla Bowens sign her name on the dotted line to continue her basketball career at her grandmother’s alma mater, Albany State University.
-
Cheek, Barnes receive top honors as 11 Wildcats land on All-Region team
The 2013 baseball season was a very successful one for the Schley County Wildcats. The ‘Cats earned the Region 4-A Championship after winning their first nine region contests, and finished the regular season with amazing 18-5 record before falling to Jenkins County in the first round of the GHSA Class A Public state playoffs. The Wildcats Region 4-A opponents took notice, and at the All-Region coaches meeting Schley County head coach Chuck Cheek was named Coach of the Year, and ace pitcher Justin Barnes Pitcher of the Year, as the ‘Cats landed 11 members of their squad on the 2013 All-Region 4-A team.
-
Bolivian president takes on Americus-Sumter in local soccer match
It’s not every day that a local high school gets to take on the president of a country in a pick-up soccer game. For the Americus-Sumter High School Panthers that rare opportunity presented itself on Monday evening at Alton Shell Stadium on the pitch of Americus-Sumter High School’s South Campus as Bolivian President Evo Morales challenged the Panthers to a soccer game.
-
Local businesses help fund new basketball jerseys for Boys and Girls club
Several local businesses partnered with the Boys and Girls Club of Americus/Sumter County and the Americus Police Department to buy new uniforms for every member of the organization’s young men’s basketball team recently. The Boys and Girls Club is located at 551 Hosanna Circle.
-
Talented SCPRD track and field team performs well at state finals
The Sumter County Parks and Recreation Department (SCPRD) track and field team dominated their area meet to qualify 40 participants for the state meet at Carrollton High School’s Grisham Stadium last weekend. The SCPRD team followed their stout area showing by performing exceptionally well in the state meet to close out their 2013 season.
- More Local Sports Headlines
-
