Another year, another region title for Sumrall soccer. Actually, to be exact, another pair of Region 6-4A titles.
The boys held up their end of the bargain last Friday night with a 10-0 win over McComb. The girls had to wait a bit longer, but in the end, they got there—again—following a 6-1 win on Monday over Lawrence County.
Like the Bobcats, the Lady Bobcats are back-to-back Region 6-4A Champs. Not bad, especially considering the program is only in its third year of existence.
“I’m extremely proud,” Sumrall head coach Todd Siders said. “It’s our first goal every year, and we wanna win it every year. For our girls to put in the work and be a 3-year program with multiple district championships, that’s something that doesn’t happen every day.”
Is that early success surprising though? No, not to Siders at least.
“When I first got here, I didn’t want to shy away from it being a new program or anything,” Siders said. “We want to win championships and started that tradition of being district champions and getting to the playoffs. Hopefully building on that is what we pride ourselves on.”
Had Siders’ Lady Bobcats not beaten Lawrence County Monday night, a win over Purvis on Thursday would’ve clinched the region title, too. But like this past Saturday afternoon against Wayne County, Sumrall took care of business and cruised over the Lady Cougars, 6-1.
“I felt like we kind of started slow Saturday and started a little bit slow tonight,” Siders explained. “We wanted to work on our combinations out at midfield, and when we started doing that, we created great opportunities to put the ball in the back of the net. That’s what we have to do.”
Seniors Kailey Gresham and Cameron McLaurin led the way with 2 goals apiece. As their Sumrall careers begin to wind down, their play and leadership becomes even more vital, said Siders.
“We’ve challenged them to push this program even further and try to get us out of the first round of the playoffs.”
Caragan Childs and Maddie Smith added a goal apiece for the Lady Bobcats, who improved to 11-7-1 with the win. Like the Bobcats, they will host the first round of the 4A playoffs. That will be Monday, Feb. 5 against Bay High. The Bobcats’ opponent for Tuesday, Feb. 6 has yet to be determined.
