John Sheffield’s team is off to a 3-0 start, outscoring their opponents 13-4 so far this season. On Friday, Feb. 13 the Bulldogs defeated Paulding County 4-1. On Tuesday, Sheffield’s team shutout Rome 2-0.
Against Paulding County, the Bulldogs had to adjust to the Patriots size and speed, but once they did they took control of the non-region contest.
“It was a very exciting game,” Sheffield said. “It took about 15 minutes for us to adjust to their speed and size. Our defense did a great job of defending during those 15 minutes while our offense got going.”
Four players stood out to Sheffield in those opening 15 minutes.
“Gustavo Escutia, Arturo Cruz and Miguel Trejo did a great job of marking their offensive players,” Sheffield said. “Ricardo Cortes played a composed game at the sweeper position.”
Twenty-five minutes into the first half Juan Hernandez headed the ball to Homero Jacobo who scored from 18 yards out over the goalkeepers head.
With just under 10 minutes left in the half, Rodrigo Martinez made a beautiful pass to Jacobo for his second goal of the day. Cedartown led 2-0 at halftime.
In the second half, the Bulldogs remained in control.
“I was real pleased with how we played in the second half,” Sheffield said. “We discussed at halftime that we wanted to continue to attack and not fall back into a defensive game. We did and we scored two more goals.”
Benito Aviles had a nice cross pass to Martinez who scored the Bulldogs third goal. Francisco Escutia then played the ball to Aviles who placed a shot into the net for Cedartown’s last score.
“I’m real proud of how our team is playing right now,” Sheffield said. “They are putting the work in at practice and it is paying off in the game.”
Cedartown’s other victory came against Rome in a defensive battle.
“This was a huge game for us,” Sheffield said. “We played them two years ago and they won 7-1. Our team was looking forward to the challenge of playing them again.”
The Bulldogs didn’t disappoint as they went toe-to-toe with the Wolves for 80 minutes.
“It was a great soccer game,” Sheffield said. “Both teams played hard.”
The opening half was a back-and-forth affair with both teams having chances to score.
“It was a battle for the middle of the field and whichever team controlled the middle took control of the game,” Sheffield said. “I felt we controlled the middle of the field in the first half but couldn’t score.”
Cedartown had four good shots on goal in the opening half, but couldn’t find the back of the net.
“In the second half I thought our conditioning came into play,” Sheffield said. “We were starting to wear down and Rome took control of the second half.”
Rury Torres, the Bulldogs goalkeeper, made some big saves at goal while Ricardo Cortes was leading the rest of the defense.
“For the first 20 minutes of the second half our defense was on its heels,” Sheffield said. “We just continued to fight and not give up any goals.”
Then late in the contest, the Bulldogs appeared to catch their second wind.
Martinez was tripped in the box and Cedartown was awarded a penalty kick. Irvin Bahena took the kick and scored with 12 minutes left in the non-region game.
Two minutes later, Jacobo collected the ball from Cortes and beat three Rome defenders and chipped the ball over the diving Wolves goalkeeper to score to make it 2-0.
“We had some players come off the bench and play some important minutes,” Sheffield said. “J.R. Navarro, Emanuel Escutia and Jovanny Martinez played well on defense and Eduardo Carmona played some valuable minutes at attack. I was real proud of those guys.”
Despite the Bulldogs starting the season so strong, Sheffield knows his team can get better.
“We still have a lot to work on,” Sheffield said. “Our communication needs to improve and we need to work on defending corner kicks. Rome had four or five corner kicks in the closing eight minutes and we didn’t attack the ball and Rome had numerous shots on goal. We need to improve in that area.”
As for the Lady Bulldogs, they are still winless after three games.
After suffering a 5-0 defeat to Lakeview Fort-Oglethorpe on opening day, Cedartown has lost to Paulding County and Rome by the same scores of 10-0.
Against Rome, Cedartown couldn’t stop the Lady Wolves offensive attack as Rome players Kelly Kozera and Rachel Patrick scored four goals each. Katie Lansing added two goals and two assists as Rome remained undefeated on the season.
Cedartown is back on the field this weekend, competing in the Walker County Invitational. On Friday the Bulldogs play Ringgold at 5 p.m. and the Lady Bulldogs face Ridgeland at 6:45 p.m. Both games will be at Ridgeland.
On Saturday the Bulldogs play LaFayette at 10 a.m. and the Lady Bulldogs will go against LaFayette at noon. Both games will be at LaFayette.
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