By Russ Gordon

For the Enquirer

April 4, the Hartselle boys soccer teams completed a nine-game stretch of away contests by traveling to Athens. The varsity team defeated the Golden Eagles 3-0, while the JV game ended in a tie, 1-1. The middle school boys team closed out their season with an impressive 10-3-1 record.

Varsity boys

Hartselle 3, Athens 0

Luke Minnon put the Tigers on the scoreboard with an assist from Jamison Hill to take a 1-0 lead over the Eagles with 17:30 on the first half clock. Five minutes later, Owen Bennich scored the first of his two goals with Gavin Erb’s first assist of the season to take a 2-0 lead into halftime.

Five minutes into the second half saw Bennich get his brace with an assist from Ethan Medendorp. The remainder of the half was characterized by furious offense by the Tigers and inspired defense by Athens with no further scoring.

JV boys

Hartselle 1, Athens 1

Warren Peyton scored Hartselle’s lone goal seven minutes into the second half for a 1-0 lead. Athens tied the game with a goal with 18 minutes on the clock, 1-1. Neither team was able to finish scoring attempts the rest of the way with the game ending in Hartselle’s third tie game of the season.

The varsity boys take an 11-5-2 record into the final four games of the regular season with Cullman coming to town for a 6A area 14 match on April 8. The final area matchup will be at home against Decatur April 16. They will have an away game at Randolph April 18 and Senior Night will be against Priceville at home on the April 22 to conclude regular season play.