By Russ Gordon
For the Enquirer

The Hartselle junior varsity boys’ soccer team ended their season with a 10-0-3 record. They defeated Decatur 3-2 and triumphed over Randolph 2-0. In boys varsity action, the Tigers fell to the visiting Decatur Red Raiders 0-1 and tied Randolph 2-2. The girls varsity lost to area rival Cullman 3-2.

JV Boys
Hartselle 3, Decatur 2
The previous outing at Decatur ended in a 0-0 tie, but the junior Tigers were not going to settle for another tie. Decatur scored first at the midpoint of the first half for the lead, but Rhett Spivey scored a goal at 9:15 to tie the game at 1-1. Decatur then made a penalty kick with four minutes to go in the half and took a 2-1 advantage into the half. Warren Peyton tied the game early in the second half and then scored the winning goal with 12 minutes on the clock with an assist from Elliott Barnes.

Hartselle 2, Randolph 0

Elliott Barnes made a goal in the first half and Rhett Spivey added another in the second half for the 2-0 victory over the visiting Randolph Raiders.

Varsity Boys
Hartselle 0, Decatur 1
Despite outscoring Decatur 15-2 in the two previous matchups this season. A very physical match saw the game score tied at halftime, while Decatur had a 3-0 advantage in yellow cards. Hartselle scored a goal at 33:21 but the referee disallowed it because he said a Hartselle player hit the ball with some part of his arm just prior to the ball going into the goal. Decatur scored a goal halfway through the second period which proved to be the game winner.

Hartselle 2, Randolph 2
Luke Minnon had a picture-perfect assist to Owen Bennich for a goal to tie the game three quarters of the way through the first period. Five minutes into the second half, Luke Vinson gave an assist to sophomore Andrew O’Leary for his first varsity goal of the year, taking a 2-1 lead. On a questionable foul inside the box, Randolph made a penalty kick with 19:15 on the clock, 2-2.

Girls’ varsity
Hartselle 2, Cullman 3

In their final Area 14 game, the girls lost a heartbreaker to the visiting Cullman Bearcats. Cara Beth Nelson scored for Hartselle, 1-0, but seven minutes later Cullman tied the score for the first half 1-1. Maggie Smith gave the Lady Tigers the lead again, but Cullman answered with another goal to bring the game to a 2-2 deadlock at the end of regulation play. Two five-minute overtime periods failed to break the tie. The game was decided by PKs. Sam Watson made one block, but Cullman made their other four shots, while Hartselle missed one and had one blocked, giving Cullman the pyrrhic victory.

JV Girls
Hartselle 3, Cullman 3

Jaylee Browning scored, and an own goal gave the Hartselle girls a 2-1 lead at half. Brelyn Morse scored in the second half, but Cullman scored twice to bring the game to a tie. The team is 7-3-1 on the season with one game remaining.

On April 22, both the varsity boys and girls have home games against Columbia to end the regular season. Post-season play for the first round of the state playoffs for the Area 14 champion girls begins April 25 at 5 p.m. against Ft. Payne; the Area 14 champion boys take on Gadsden City Friday 7 p.m. Both games are at Groover Field.