DALTON, Ga. -- New region. New classification. Same old Dalton High School.
The Catamounts soccer team, ranked No. 1 in the nation according to MaxPreps, sealed the Region 7-AAAAA championship Tuesday with a 6-0 victory over the state's fourth-ranked team, Riverwood.
Dalton (15-0) scored three first-half goals in winning the title in its first season after moving up from Class AAAA.
The Catamounts improved their nonloss streak to 59 matches. A 2-all draw against Dobyns-Bennett in Kingsport, Tenn., in 2014 was the only "blemish" in that span.
The win Tuesday came without the services of Eder Mora, one of the team's senior stars. The Alabama-Birmingham signee suffered a foot fracture during the Catamounts' first region playoff match and is out for the rest of the season, but it didn't matter as they received two goals from Kobe Perez and one from Javier Rodriguez in a 10-minute span midway through the first half.
Perez, a senior, struck first in the 18th minute on a corner kick by Rodriguez, who followed two minutes later with a goal off a deflection. Then after a foul by Riverwood's Skyler deGroot on Jose Boyzo in the box, Perez put away the penalty kick.
"We had to step our game up early," Perez said. "They pressured us hard early and we had to adjust to that, but we were able to do that tonight. This is a good win for us, but we can't take it for granted. We have to work harder for state."
Churrui Huitanda, Jimmy Cano and Isai Hernandez scored second-half goals.
"Riverwood was a tough, very talented team," Dalton coach Matt Cheaves said. "After 10, 15 minutes, we were able to settle in and started playing how we wanted the team to."
The state playoffs begin next week. Riverwood and Dalton will host first-round matches against the fourth- and third-place teams in Region 8.
Contact Gene Henley at ghenley@timesfreepress.com. Follow him at twitter.com/genehenleytfp.