On Wednesday the Long County High School boys soccer team advanced into the Sweet 16 round of the Georgia High School Association AAA Boys State Soccer Tournament with a 3-1 win over Jackson High School.

Playing in Ludowici, the Blue Tide jumped out to a 1-0 lead when Alex Maldonado slammed the ball into the goal in the first half. Armando Orozco added two more goals to secure the win.

Long County head coach Paul Austin said that though the opposing team played well, he felt his team had a solid second half to seal the victory.

"I think we played very well after we settled into the game, I felt we had a very controlled second half", said Austin.

With the win the Blue Tide will now take on Sonoraville High School, who advanced into the second round of the playoffs by dominating Jackson County 8-1.

Despite the solid win by the Phoenix team, the Blue Tide go into that game as the favorite, being ranked number 10 in the state by Eurosportscoreboard.com.

But Austin said that if his team is going to advance into the third round of the state tournament they will have to play better, earlier in the game than they did against Jackson.

"We have to be ready for the next round, we have to communicate better early, and take a few more shots from the outside than we did tonight," he said.

Austin said that he appreciated the fans that came out on Wednesday, and he expects the Sonoraville game to be just as competitive.

"I want to thank all of the fans that came out to this game, I also would love to fill the stands for next week’s game, it should be a great game", said Austin.

The match is on Wednesday in Ludowici starting at 6 p.m.