Statesboro did itself a favor toward securing a home playoff game with a 3-0 win over Wayne County Tuesday night. at Womack Field.
    It had been a rough two weeks for the Blue Devils coming into Tuesday’s affair. Since beating Ware County 3-1 on March 14, the Devils had played only one other game. That contest was against region frontrunner South Effingham, which beat the Blue Devils 3-2 to sweep the season series.
    Barring a catastrophic injury or a meteor hitting Guyton, South Effingham has a clear path to win the region — a title Statesboro had its eyes set on from day one. While it stings to have the No. 1 seed stripped away this early in the season, head coach David Ball knows his side can still relish a home playoff game.
    “The last thing I wanted our guys to do is play lackadaisical going to the playoffs just because we won’t have the No. 1 seed,” Ball said. “We still want a sense of urgency when we play.” 
    Tuesday’s win over Wayne County put Statesboro at 2-2 in region play alongside Ware County for second place. Considering the boys have already beaten Ware 3-1 in Waycross,  Statesboro does have a strong case to host a playoff game as a No. 2 seed.
    In a physical game that saw three injury stoppages, four yellow cards and seven total fouls, it was a minor offensive explosion between the 38th and 41st minute marks that put Statesboro ahead Tuesday evening.
    Statesboro held the possession advantage by a 63 percent advantage, but for the most part their shots weren’t threatening the keeper between the pipes. Even with all the close looks Statesboro had, it would be a 40-yard bomb from Caleb Dowen that would rainbow perfectly over the outstretched arm of Peyton Moore to fall in for the 1-0 lead.
    Within the same minute following Dowden’s goal, Atekha Osyamen found himself streaking down the sideline with the ball at his feet and no one in front of him. This set up a perfect cross over the face of goal to find the boot of John Desiderio, who smashed the ball in to put Statesboro up 2-0 within the blink of an eye.
    “We came out controlling the possession and we really wanted to push the ball upfield,” Ball said. “Our offense came from all over the place, which is nice to see out balance on display.”
    The offense didn’t let up at the start of the second half either, when Younoussa Maiga received a perfectly placed through ball by Will Mackiewicz and placed the ball right by the keeper to put Statesboro up 3-0 by the 41st minute. Wayne would punch in a 63rd minute score to avoid the shutout, but Statesboro never saw the game fall out of their control.
    The Devils (6-3-0, 2-2-0) will lace up again Friday when they travel to New Hampstead (2-8, 0-4) for a game set to kick at 5:30 p.m.

Lady Devils 3, Lady Jackets 1
    Statesboro’s 3-1 victory over Wayne County Tuesday evening proved the medicine to curing the Lady Blue Devils was as simple as one player.
    Star forward Isabell Gutierrez fell ill while subsequently nursing an injured ankle, forcing her out of Statesboro’s lineup for four games. The damage was seen loudly on the offensive side of Statesboro’s game, as they were outscored 8-0 in three matches at the Taxslayer Border Classic in Augusta and their rematch with South Effingham on March 23.
    “It wasn’t just Bella we had out, we were missing a number of key girls due to injuries or sickness,” said head coach Brian Thomas. “As great as Bella is, we missed way more than her over the last four games.”
    Gutierrez has not only been the team's leading scorer but their best playmaker in the midfield as well. As the central midfielder Gutierrez has passed wingers like Smith Kaiser and Kaitlin Carter open for easy goals all season, so without her Kaiser and Carter are left stranded in the opposition's third with no good passes coming their way.

Tuesday evening saw the Statesboro offense revert back to their early season form, and it all started with Gutierrez up front.
    Statesboro started the game attacking Wayne over the top of their back line. Gutierrez sent three balls over the top of the defense — two would draw the forwards offsides but the third would draw a corner kick.
    Gutierrez lined up the corner, dropped it right in the middle of the box and in the middle of a chaotic sprawl by Wayne to kick the ball out of the box Carter found the rock and rifled it by the unsuspecting keeper to make it 1-0. Only six minutes had left the Womack Field clock.
    “Smith, Kaitlin and Bella all play very well together,” Thomas said. “Between the three of them we had a really nice offensive game.” 
    Statesboro continued to push the ball and kept Wayne on their heels, then Gutierrez would double up the Yellow Jackets on her own accord. After clearing the ball from the box, Wayne Keeper Terren Ward saw herself playing to far out of the face of goal -- allowing Gutierrez to pooch a perfectly placed volley up and over the keeper for her first goal back from injury.
    The bigger victory outside the game itself was in Statesboro’s region record. Without Gutierrez in the lineup Statesboro suffered their first region loss to South Effingham 1-0 after getting the best of the Mustangs in PK’s back on March 7.
    Coming into Tuesday’s game Wayne was the only team left in region 2-5A with an unscathed mark, but now the Yellow Jackets and Statesboro are even at 3-1 -- setting up a possible showdown for the No. 1 seed in the season finale for these clubs on April 18.

Statesboro was able to secure the region-tying win even as Wayne County controlled 56 percent of the second half possession. Yet, the Yellow Jackets were only able to get off one threatening shot thanks to the range in the defensive third provided by midfielder Tayana Hill.

“Tayana plays such a huge part in our success on defense,” Thomas said. “She covers a lot of ground on defense and takes a lot of pressure off our backline.”

Gutierrez put her punctuation on the game when she took the ball herself past midfield, weaved through two Wayne County defenders like a tailor’s needle through silk and slammed home the third goal of the night for Statesboro. It was her third multi-goal game this season.

Statesboro (8-4-0, 3-1) will take a break from region play Friday before finishing out the season on an all-region slate. The Ladies will host Savannah Country Day (7-1-0) Friday at Womack Field at 5:00 p.m.