The Long County High School boys and girls soccer teams kicked off their programs’ second seasons in style Monday in Ludowici.  
Hoping to build on their inaugural seasons, when the boys’ team went 5-10 and the girls’ team went 6-9, the Blue Tide and the Lady Tide took a big step in that direction as they beat the Herons by identical scores of 10-0.
“I thought our team had a good first game,” boys’ head coach Paul Austin said. “I’m very pleased with us playing together as a family. I thought we did a great job of communicating and finishing on offense.”
In the boys’ game, Albert Nevares led all scorers with three goals. Aron Nevarez and Ever Arrellano each had two goals. Carlos Nevarez, Malik Fedon and Francisco Mejia each had one goal.
“Our defense was very tough only allowing two shots on goal … we did a great job of keeping the ball in front of them, so our keepers didn’t have much work,” Austin said.
The coach said that the team keeps points on game assists, defense, steals, clears, attitude, communication and team support. He said that one person will be chosen as the “high points” player of the week.
“Our high points for this week didn’t score but was crucial in the win and that person was Alex Toledo,” Austin said.
The Lady Tide also had a dominating performance, and head coach Brian Todd had nothing but praise for his team.
“The team played great, they communicated what they wanted to get done and made it happen … Kelsey Higgason scored in the first 30 seconds and Nakia Hunter also played well,” Todd said.
Higgason led all scorers with five goals, Hunter had three, and Alyssa Anderson and Megan Higgason each tapped in one goal. The Lady Tide defense also played outstanding, allowing only one shot on their goal.  
Todd said there are several new girls on the team this year, and he expects his team to be one of the more athletic teams in Region 2-AA.  
But even though the Blue Tide and the Lady Tide clearly were the stronger teams on Monday, the Herons will get a second crack at the Ludowici squads when they play them again next week.  
“We have a rematch with Brantley before we open our region schedule.  We’re hoping this will enable us to work on our communication and getting us used to playing with each other,” Todd said.
The Long County teams play Brantley on Feb. 20 in Nahunta, with the girls’ action at 5 p.m., and the boys following at 7.