Tuesday was a bittersweet night for the Long County High School soccer program in Ludowici with the Blue Tide winning their game, 4-2, against Toombs County, but the Lady Tide falling, 4-1.
The Tide boys jumped out to an early 2-0 lead, but the Bulldogs fought back to tie the game before the half.  In the second half, both teams played physically, with neither being able to put the ball into the net, so the contest went into extended play.  With penalty kicks to decide the outcome, Long County goalie Adalberto Vidrio had four shots taken against him by the Bulldogs, but Vidrio blocked all the shots. With the hometown fans going crazy, the Blue Tide’s Alberto Nevarez and Tony Duenes scored two of their shots to give Long County the win.
“This makes it three in a row for the Tide men, and this is a great time of the season to get on a winning streak … our team is playing much better as a team and are doing an awesome job of communicating during the game,” Long County Athletic Director Karen Swindell said,
“This victory puts the boys’ team well in the hunt for a state playoff berth,” Long County head coach Darrell Mosley said.
In the girls’ game, the Lady Tide played well but were outgunned against Toombs County.  Kaylyn McEwin scored the Lady Tide’s lone goal.
“The girls’ team lost a very physical match to a very well coached Toombs County girls’ squad … the overall speed of Toombs County was too much for our girls today,” Mosley said.
“Our girls played hard, they just seemed to let Toombs take them out of their game … I’m sure Coach Mosley and Coach Sanders will get them prepared for a strong second half of the season and get them back on track,” Swindell said.
As of Thursday, the Blue Tide and the Lady Tide both were 5-6 overall and 3-6 in the Region 2-AA standings. Both teams are off until Tuesday when they take on state-ranked Benedictine Military School and Saint Vincent’s Academy.  When the schools played earlier this season, both Long County squads were beaten by the top-10 teams.  
Tuesday’s games are in Ludowici, with the girls’ game starting at 5 p.m. and the boys’ to follow.