Tournament Under the Cross boasts largest field

ALBANY — For the past 11 years, Sherwood Christian Academy has been fostering relationships in a growing soccer community. The school’s “Tournament Under The Cross” is still going strong after a little more than a decade and is up to 32 teams this year, the largest in tournament history.

A total of 16 boys teams and 16 girls teams from across the state will play in the round-robin tournament starting Friday morning with each team guaranteed three games.

Games will be played on each of Sherwood’s four soccer fields simultaneously. Sherwood head coach and director Jeremy Davidson said the tournament, which started out as an eight-team event, has grown in large part because of its facilities.

“We’re blessed with great facilities,” he said. “And that’s really the way this tournament started is we wanted to be good stewards of the facilities God’s given us. Not too many schools this size can run four fields right here on our campus…”

Davidson said the event brings like-minded teams together not only to watch some quality soccer but to get in some good fellowship as well. He added that the majority of the teams are returning, including First Presbyterian out of Hinesville, who has participated since the inaugural year.

While Davidson said the function serves as somewhat of a family reunion, he noted that 15-20 college coaches will be in attendance recruiting. The event gives them an opportunity not just to see players in action but to meet their families as well. He said they intentionally targeted smaller, Christian colleges such as Truett McConnell and Point University.

“My goal is to turn it into a college showcase tournament for Christian colleges where we invest in these kids not just academically and athletically, but spiritually and there’s a focus in our education program on Christ and the cross, ” he said. “So we want to pass these kids on to colleges who have the same focus.”

As far as action on the field goes, Davidson said they try and create a competitive environment for each school no matter what level they’re at. This weekend will feature several newer programs participating as well as the traditional larger schools of the classification.

“This tournament provides a wide variety of competition for all different levels of play,” he said. “If it’s a small, startup team, we try to create an environment where they feel comfortable coming in and they may take their lumps a little bit, but they’re gonna get to see some good soccer and they’re gonna get a chance to learn from that in a respectful way.”

As far as Sherwood is concerned, the Lady Eagles have won state titles the last two years and are the reigning tournament champs. They’re coming off an 11-1 win over Covenant Tuesday to improve to 3-0 on the season and extend their winning streak to 36 games.

The Sherwood boys made it to state last year and Davidson feels they are stronger. They too are fresh of a Tuesday win by a final score of 2-1 and Davidson said hopefully they’ll be in the hunt for a tournament championship.

The Lady Eagles will play at noon on Friday, while the boys play at 4:30 p.m.