BA head coach Matthew Meeks said in the preseason he thought this edition of BA soccer was good enough to challenge Frederica for the region title.
    Monday night it became clear he would at least have the offense to contend.
    With a couple of track stars playing up front, BA soccer plays a “seven seconds or less” style of attack that is more reminiscent of the Mike D’Antoni Phoenix Suns than a high school soccer team.
    But that’s exactly what Meeks wants from this team. Even if it means giving up some goals in the counter attack, BA will just out gun every team they play in 2017.
    “Offensively that was the plan,” Meeks said. “That’s exactly how we want to look, and considering it was only game one I’d like to think that was a pretty good start.”
    Monday night’s 6-6 draw showcased both the good and bad sides of playing that fun-and-gun style — and in the first 15 minutes it appeared as if BA had everything figured out with their offense.
    The trio of Jack Fortune, Seth Brant and Grant Williams starred early and often for BA — with Brant notching the first goal of the game with not even two minutes gone off the clock. Fortune made a run on the sideline before curling around to send a ball into the streaking Brant to make it 1-0.
    Not four minutes later Ray Zeng squared up a shot from 30 yards out and beat the keeper for a 2-0 lead, then in the twelfth minute Fortune — instead of passing off a run — would take it all the way himself to make it 3-0. It was a brain-buzzing barrage of offense in such a short amount of time, and Meeks loved it.
    “Up 3-0, I honestly thought to myself ‘Alright boys can we keep this up?’,” Meeks said. “Last season we had some trouble keeping our foot on the gas when we’d go up big in a game, so I’ll be looking to see if we can keep that up this year.”
    However it wouldn’t be long before that style began to show it’s cracks, or rather so the youth and inexperience in BA’s defense. Coastal struck their first goal in the 20th minute off a counter attack — but at the time it didn’t seem all too threatening after Brant notched his second goal of the night three minutes later.
    The score then ran 5-1 not soon after that when Brant delivered a corner to the head of Candler Boyett, but Coastal answered a minute later when Emma Snider cracked in her first goal of the game to make it 5-2.
    Just to keep things exciting — as if they already weren’t -— Coastal would add yet another goal before the stroke of halftime to make it 5-3. Despite two breaks in the defense, BA’s offense looked white hot going into halftime.
    “We’re breaking in two new guys in the back line and a goalie, so some defensive lapses were expected,” Meeks said. “But I thought there were some mistakes made too that we’ll need to clean up in practice this week.”
    Williams would add another goal on the 44th minute to make it 6-3, then Meeks began to play a number of reserve players up three goals with only 35 minutes left to play. However it was at this moment coastal started to make their comeback.
    Between the 48th and 74th minute Coastal would score three goals on a three-man line for BA. While BA’s constituents may not agree, it was indeed a thrilling finish to a 12-goal game and a fiery debut to the 2017 soccer season.
    Bulloch Academy (0-0-1) will be on the road for their next game Thursday at Trinity Dublin. 

BA Girls fall to              Coastal Home
    Looking down the Bulloch Academy girls' soccer roster, you’ll see a whole lot of 9’s, 10’s and 11’s listed under “grade”.
    However, you won’t find a single “12”.
    The Lady Gators are a young bunch, to say the least. After losing their only senior off of last year’s roster, BA will be looking at a largely developmental year of soccer for their core of sophomores.
    Yet, they still found a way to keep themselves in a competitive game with the Coastal Home School, despite taking a 2-0 loss.
    The setback wasn’t the result anyone for BA wanted, but according to Meeks there were plenty of positive things to take from the game.
    “I was pleased considering we played with a lot of girls who didn’t play much last season,” Meeks said. “I saw our offense develop much quicker than I expected tonight.”
    Sophomore Madeline Cowart, who took on the part of a role player in softball and basketball, made it     clear with her play Monday night that she is the lead dog for the BA ladies. Her five shots led the team and was tasked with taking most of the set pieces.
    Her closest chance at netting a score came in the 34th minute off a corner kick. Megan Sikes put the ball right in front of goal and a scramble ensued between Cowart and the Coastal defense. After at first struggling to find the ball, Cowart struck the ball only for it to deflect off the outstretched hands of the keeper.
    The deflection found the toes of Ava Hiller, but her shot was just too wide and went out for a goal kick. It was by far the best chance BA had to score in the first half, but at that point they were playing down 1-0 after a looping free kick swooped over the outstretched arms of Tori Bishop in the 15th minute.
    Bishop was able to save two other shots though and considering it was her first varsity game in goal things could have been much worse considering the caliber of forward Coastal’s Emma Snider was.
    “As a keeper the first game is always your scariest,” Meeks said. “After she made her first save I just saw the confidence grow. I thought Tori played really well tonight.”
    After conceding 55 percent of the possession to Coastal in the first half, BA was able to find more control of the ball in the second. But with that possession came less shots, as Coastal parked their defense in front of goal and didn’t allow any good looks for BA.
    Even after winning four free kicks in the Coastal half, the young Lady Gators were unable to generate the number of chances they had in the first half.
    It took 61 minutes for Coastal to finally hit the backbreaker, but it came off a rifle from seventh grader Abby Snider following a clearance by Bishop in goal. The three Snider sisters — Emma, Abby and Megan in defense — proved the be the biggest difference for Coastal in their second win of the season.
    BA finished with 46 percent of the total possession, eight shots — five on target — and 12 combined free kicks and corners. While the goal scoring lagged behind, all in all for a team playing with four upperclassman on a roster of 17 players and which finished 3-8 last season, Meeks said fans should be encouraged.
    “We looked night and day from opening day last year,” Meeks said. “Considering how young we are, I think we have a lot to build on going forward.”
    BA (0-1-0) will hit the road Thursday against Trinity Dublin at 5 p.m.