Battling the weather and the gnats, the Liberty County boys soccer team dropped a heartbreaker to Ware County (2-1) in overtime Friday evening at Donell Woods Stadium.
Liberty fought the Gators to a stalemate in the first half.
“The first half was very even. Both teams played well and it was hard to generate offense,” Liberty County head coach Bryant Durham said.
Liberty took the lead when Darion Mallete scored off a penalty kick.
The Panthers controlled the pace of the game during most of the second half, but Ware scored in the last 30 seconds to tie the game and force overtime.
“We played well. We just didn’t stop them when we needed to, and when they scored to send the game to overtime, we just didn’t recover,” Durham said.
Ware scored in overtime to earn the Region 2A-AAAA win.
“We had some really great defensive play tonight. Robert Kornegay and Ennis Bustillo anchored us defensively tonight,” Durham said.
Jalen Gilyard also put forth a solid effort for the Panthers at the midfield position, according to the coach.
Liberty will host region foe Wayne County on Tuesday afternoon at Donell Woods Stadium.
The boys currently are 1-4-1 overall and 1-3-0 in the region.
Preceding the boys’ game, the Liberty girls also fell to Ware County, 4-1. They are also 1-4-1 overall and 1-3-0 in the region.
On Tuesday, Liberty hosts Wayne County for another region game that starts with the girls at 5 p.m.
In other soccer news, the Bradwell Tigers’ home game Friday against Savannah Arts Academy was called due to inclement weather.
The game will be rescheduled.