Take Me To Post Comment Form This week, I'm going to start with a little soccer.

I haven't been to an exciting of a match as the one I witnessed Thursday night in a long time.

Statesboro won 4-3 on penalty kicks, upsetting power Greenbrier at Mill Creek. It was an emotional game on many levels, with SHS being the underdog, it being a pseudo-Senior Night and the contest ending in the most dramatic of fashions.

After the game I talked to head coach Chad Prosser about the culmination of a tough, tough season. I could tell the it was a relief to put the ups and down of '08 behind him and look towards a new season in the region tournament.

Statesboro is usually a contender for the region title, or at the very least, a lock to make the state playoffs. But this year, nothing went right for the Blue Devils. They played at three different fields - two at Mill Creek and one at Georgia Southern -, had numerous weather cancellations and just six seniors to try and keep a relatively young squad from imploding.

If the Devils took a lead, they eventually lost it. If they fell behind, it was tough to come back.

Somehow, some way, they showed a lot of heart in knocking off the boys from suburban Augusta. They'll need another 'miracle' Tuesday when they travel to Jesup to face once-beaten Wayne County.

P.S. - To the young forward for GHS - and you know who you are - dropping a couple of authoritative F-bombs and then verbally assaulting your teammates during Thursday night's game was less than weak. Time to grow up my man.

On to baseball, where I get the sense something good is about to happen for the Diamond Devils.

After dropping a heartbreaker to Greenbrier last week - who then lost 15-1 to my alma mater Brookwood (you better recognize) - SHS has bounced back with poundings of Vidalia and the Academy of Richmond County.

Certainly, the toughest part of the schedule is behind them. There's still region games with the aforementioned and a home-and-home with Evans, but there's plenty of chance to build some confidence in April (see Liberty County, Blessed Trinity and Jenkins).

The personality of this team is beginning to grow into a feisty one. After an 0-2 Region 3-AAAA start, some have written Statesboro off. That may be the fuel they need to surprise those very same people in the coming weeks.