Photo: Southside High’s Alex Mullins competes during the Rainbow City Classic soccer tournament on Feb. 17 at the KIA Sportsplex in Rainbow City. (Courtesy of Average Joe’s Sports Talk)
The Southside High boys and girls varsity soccer teams won the inaugural Rainbow City Classic on Feb. 17 at the KIA Sportsplex in Rainbow City.
The Class 5A No. 2 Panthers opened with a 2-2 tie against Albertville. Joel Herrera finished with a goal and an assist, Camren Thompson had a goal and Grant Vice had an assist. Hayes Cosby had four saves in goal.
Southside then posted a 4-0 shutout over Westbrook Christian. Alex Mullins had two goals and an assist, Thompson and Coben Guest each had a goal, Trek Gardner had two assists and Andreas Favero had one assist. Aaron Herrera and Oskar Andersson both had two saves in goal.
The Panthers defeated Susan Moore, 7-1, in the championship match. Thompson scored four goals, followed by Caleb Ogle with two and Mullins with one. Gardner had three assists, followed by Cooper Yancey with two and Vice and Herrera with one each. Cosby had five saves in goal.
The Class 5A No. 5 Lady Panthers posted a clean sheet in all four games, outscoring the opposition by a 16-0 margin. Southside opened with a 4-0 win over Fort Payne. Makayla Walker, Madison Ashley, Kinsey Carter and Mallory Tucker each scored a goal, while Kinsey Carter, Madison Ashley and Elizabeth Moore all registered an assist. Hannah Maddox made eight saves in goal.
Southside then defeated St. Clair County, 3-0. Moore scored two goals, while Madison Walker added one. Walker, Carter and Tucker each had an assist.
In a 1-0 victory over Westbrook, Walker scored a goal with an assist from Carter. Maddox had five saves.
Carter netted four goals in the Lady Panthers’ 8-0 win over Susan Moore in the championship match. Tucker, Lillian Hanson, Allicia Harris and Brooklyn Dobbins each scored a goal.
Moore, Walker, Tucker, Harris, Carter and Cali Rogers all had one assist.
The Southside boys opened its season with three victories.
On Feb. 8, the Class 5A No. 2 Panthers defeated Boaz, 1-0. Will Argo’s assist to Camren Thompson scored the game’s only goal in the 77th minute. Aaron Herrera posted the shutout in goal for Southside.
On Feb. 10, the Panthers beat Class 7A No. 5 Grissom, 1-0, at the KIA Sportsplex in Rainbow City. Thompson scored the only goal of the match in the 31st minute off an assist from Trek Gardner. Goalkeeper Oskar Andersson had five saves including a tip over.
On Feb. 13 at the KIA Sportsplex, Southside beat Rome, Ga., 5-0. The match marked the first time Southside head coach Randy Vice faced his former team since retiring from Coosa in 2017.
For the Panthers, Thompson had a goal and two assists, Gardner and Will Argo each had a goal and an assist, Alex Mullins and Seth Hooks both had a goal and Grant Vice had an assist.
Hayes Cosby had four saves in goal, followed by Oskar Andersson with two and Ouzeiph Toumiba with one.