The Long County High School boys’ soccer team has made history in only its third year of play.  

Playing in Ludowici, the Blue Tide beat Fitzgerald High School 5-1 to advance to the Sweet 16 round of the AA state playoffs.  

In the first half, Long County jumped out to a 2-0 lead with goals by Armando Orozco and David Mejia. Early in the second half, Mejia added another goal, and Alberto Nevarez also slammed one in to put the Blue Tide up 4-0.  Fitzgerald did score late in the half, but a last-minute goal by Malik Fedon put the final nail in the coffin for the Purple Hurricane.  

Long County head coach Paul Austin was pleased with his team’s effort.

“I think we played one of our best games of the year tonight,” he said. “We played together as a team from top to bottom; everyone did well.”

With the win, the Blue Tide (10-3) will travel to Gainesville to take on Riverside Military Academy (14-2). The Eagles also advanced to the next round of the playoffs by destroying Model High School 10-0 Friday. According to Eurosportscoreboard.com and MaxPreps.com the Eagles are the No. 3 AA team in the state, while the Blue Tide are ranked No. 7 by Eurosportscoreboard and No. 11 by MaxPreps in the two polls.  

The game between the Riverside and Long County will take place on Wednesday.  The time of the contest wasn’t confirmed at press time.