An exciting two days of second-round soccer for Cobb finds five teams heading to the third round—the Elite 8 quarterfinals. For the girls, only Walton remains in postseason competition, but for the boys, four Cobb teams are still alive, comprising 50% of the teams left in the state tournament. Campbell, Harrison, Hillgrove, and Pebblebrook will all play next Tuesday.

The Walton Lady Raiders hosted Roswell on Monday for a very close second-round match. The Lady Raiders came from behind twice to push the game to overtime where they finally put the Hornets away, 3-2. The girls now face Denmark on Monday in an important Elite 8 game.

The Pebblebrook boys will also face Roswell in the Elite 8 next week. After a grueling 100 minutes of scoreless soccer (regulation and two OT periods), the Falcons' season came down to penalty kicks. 11 goals were scored in the PK round, with the final goal from Ivan Salazar securing the victory for the home-crowd Falcon faithful, 6-5. The stadium erupted with cheering and strobed with the traditional Pebblebrook celebration of the flashing of the field lights.

"It was a hard-fought game against a really strong Peachtree Ridge," said head coach Anton Banfield. "We had several opportunities in the first half we did not finish on, and in the second half they came at us very strong. We had a big save from Brandon Negrete in the last ten minutes, and he kept us in it again in the PKs." 

Hillgrove upset Meadowcreek, the Region 7 champ, in a road game on Tuesday night. The Hawks advance to the Elite 8 to face Brookwood, the Region 4 champ. 

The Campbell boys beat West Forsyth to advance. The Spartans will now face Tift County, the Region 1 champ, next Tuesday to compete for a Final Four spot.

Finally, Harrison continued its winning ways with a second round shutout of Dunwoody. The Hoya boys remain perfect on the season (20-0) and look every bit the team to beat in 7A. Ranked #1 in the nation and the state, the Hoyas are playing top-level soccer right now and will be tested next week by Region 6 champ Lambert in the Elite 8. 

Great job, 7A soccer teams. Only three games to go until the state finals. Good luck to all five Cobb teams.