DALTON, Ga. — Dalton had one problem in the second round of the Georgia Class AAAA boys’ soccer playoffs Tuesday. They couldn’t stop a major Payne.
Starr’s Mill’s Payne Spencer had two goals and an assist, and the Panthers scored two second-half goals to defeat the Catamounts 3-1 at Harmon Field.
Dalton outshot the Panthers 18-7 and controlled parts of the second half after a Jesse Gonzales header tied the game in the 51st minute. The Catamounts looked ready to put a second goal in, but the Starr’s Mill defense and keeper Matt Hubbard shut them down again and again.
“I felt like we would take the lead,” Dalton coach Matt Cheaves said. “The guys played very hard and had a good game. We were playing more individually in the first half, but in the second half we started playing as a team.”
Eight minutes after Gonzales outleaped two defenders to tie the game, Spencer — who had been shadowed by Ricky Reynoso all game long — found himself open when Reynoso went after a ball. The ball was passed to Spencer, who took a couple of dribbles before crossing the ball into Kevin O’Connor, whose second effort gave the Panthers (15-3-1) a 2-1 edge.