Dougherty soccer’s historic run comes to an end

ALBANY — A historic season came to an end Wednesday for Dougherty High’s boys soccer team. The Trojans fell to Savannah Arts Academy 7-1 in the GHSA Class 3A Tournament.

While the loss left players disappointed, it left the coaching staff and administration proud of what they accomplished and optimistic about what they can potentially achieve next year.

“We told them, ‘We made history, the history continues,’ ” Nicholson said. “We’re talking about the rising of an empire and that’s what we were a part of this year, and it’s an empire of soccer that’s going to rise and going to keep going,” head coach Nicholas Nicholson said.

Nicholson added that the Trojans only lose three seniors and that they have some recently discovered talent that he expects to come in and contribute almost immediately.

Dougherty athletics director Fred Thomas said the team has a lot to be proud of as they are helping to usher in a resurgence of Dougherty athletics.

“We’re changing the mindset and getting the East side back to how it used to be,” he said. “It used to be a powerhouse on the East side, so we want to make sure we grow and get those teams back. We have a lot of athletes and a lot of those guys and girls did not play, so this helps them to believe in themselves and believe in the programs.”

The soccer team plans to learn from the mistakes made Wednesday in their quest to become legitimate contenders.

Dougherty fell behind 2-0 early before Elian Moreno’s penalty kick cut Savannah Arts’ lead to just one. The Trojans were never able to get much going offensively, as Savannah Arts controlled the ball for pretty much the entire second half while scoring five goals in the process.

Nicholson said his team didn’t apply enough pressure to the aggressive visitors.

“It’s us not stepping up to them and not covering them man-to-man,” he said. “We kept laying back too far, and that gave them too much room to move around and too many opportunities.”

Nevertheless, Nicholson said the body language and passion seen after the game lets him know that they’re going to be all right. He’s hopeful that the success will not only create excitement for the school, but for the entire soccer community in southwest Georgia.

“If anybody knows anything about soccer in southwest Georgia and even America is that it’s just not that big of a deal, and we’re trying to change that,” he said. “We want to bring attention to it, we want to get the stands filled, and we’re hoping that we changed people’s mindset. We had a high-scoring game and that’s what we like in America, so next time it’ll be us with the high score.”