PREP SOCCER ROUNDUP: Columbus knocks WHS boys soccer from state; DWS girls close region schedule a perfect 8-0

COLUMBUS — Try as they might, there was no “Miracle on Grass” on Tuesday night for the Westover boys soccer program.

The No. 3-seeded Patriots, who upset No. 2 Mary Persons last Thursday 4-2, after falling behind, 2-0, in the second half, had to hit the road again Tuesday for their Sweet 16 showdown with Columbus, which ended Westover’s season with a 3-0 shutout loss.

“They were certainly the better team (Tuesday night),” said Westover boys community coach Greg Brown, whose team ended the season 9-6, having made it further in the playoffs of any WHS squad in five years. “They’re happy to have come so far, but disappointed in the way it ended. But this is a junior-heavy team, so we’ll be back.”

That includes the return of Brown’s son, Danny, The Herald’s reigning Player of the Year who scored a staggering 26 goals this season, two of which came in Thursday’s amazing second-half comeback.

Columbus coach Tom Perry gave his players a spirited halftime talk after a scoreless opening period, and the No. 5 Blue Devils did not make Perry wait long for a response.

Matt Majestic scored a goal less than two minutes into the second half and Columbus players Nathan Harrison and Zach Ketchum added a goal each as Columbus advances to the Elite 8.

“We didn’t score the whole first half and then came out and scored a minute and 32 seconds,” Columbus player Logan Mayes said. “If that doesn’t say something about how fired up coach got us, I don’t know what does.”

The Blue Devils advance to play the winner of Tuesday’s Southeast Whitfield-Druid Hills game on Friday at CSU.

Columbus rarely lost control of the ball on Tuesday night, limiting Westover’s scoring chances to a pair of corner kicks that goalkeeper Greg Bingham came out to catch. Blue Devils defenders managed to force turnovers or kick the ball out of bounds the few times Westover forwards managed to gain control of a long pass from midfield.

“We knew we had good defense coming, but we couldn’t put together anything offensively against this team,” Westover’s primary coach Nick Carlisle said. “We just couldn’t put anything together that would work.”

Columbus made things much tougher on Westover goalkeeper Cory Walter, pelting him with 15 shots on goal.

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The Columbus Ledger-Enquirer and Herald sports editor Danny Aller contributed to this story