COVINGTON, Ga. — It was all Eastside on Friday in the matchup between the Eagles and the Madison County Raiders at Sharp Stadium.

Both of Eastside’s soccer teams extended win streaks with victories in region play.

Joanna Funes netted a brace in the Lady Eagles’ 2-0 victory over the Lady Raiders.

In the boys game, the Eagles played what head coach Jabari Bennett labeled as  the team’s “best performances" of the season on their way toa  5-0 win to move to 10-0 on the season.

Funes delivers again in Lady Eagles’ win

The Lady Eagles won their third consecutive match on Friday as the team managed to climb the Region 8-AAAA standings.

After a 8-0 win over Cristo Rey earlier in the week, Friday’s game proved to be much closer. However, the defensive play from the Lady Eagles prevented Madison County from mounting any attacks across 80 minutes.

In what is proving to be a highly-contested region, head coach Yulisa Vega stressed just how important every region game will be the rest of the way following the team’s win on Friday.

“I think the most important thing that we had tonight was just the hunger to win,” Vega said. “We knew that this was a big game for us that determines whether or not we make it to the playoffs, because it’s a region game that will determine the region rankings. I think we went in with the mindset of we don't have a choice but to win. We went in determined and driven and knew the goal from the start.”

The game started off quiet through the first few minutes, but Eastside slowly began to find their way into scoring opportunities.

At the eight-minute mark of the opening half, Funes received the throw in and dribbled past Madison County captain Ava McClure before depositing the shot into the bottom corner of the net for the goal.

Although the Lady Raiders prevented most of the scoring from Eastside, Funes’ goal seemed to provide a spark for Eastside.

The Lady Eagles attempted a few more shots in the half from Funes and Katheryn Wilber, but came away empty-handed.

The two teams went into halftime with the Lady Eagles ahead 1-0.

When halftime came to a close, it did not take long for the Lady Eagles to go back on the attack.

Within the opening two minutes of the second half, Funes found her way into the box, but her shot went right into the hands of the Lady Raiders keeper.

A few minutes later, Funes sent a good pass into the box, but a header from the Lady Eagles missed close over the goal.

It was not until the eight-minute mark of the second half until Madison County managed to get their first scoring chance.

The Lady Raider put together a solid run that got them into the box, but the shot was off target and wide of the goal.

A few minutes later, the Lady Raiders had their first shot on target courtesy of Ada Peeples, but the shot landed right in the hands of the Lady Eagles’ keeper.

Those two chances seemed to be the only strong ones of the day for Madison County as Eastside’s back-half played stout defense throughout.

The heightened defensive play was also noticed by Vega, too.

“Our defense was really prepared in this game,” Vega said. “We knew what numbers to look out for, we just had to shut down every pass and every play.”

With only seven minutes left in the match, Funes scored the goal that seemingly put the game out of reach.

Funes dribbled into the box and within 10 yards of the goal before shooting across the keeper into the bottom right of the net.

The second goal of the game from Funes put the Eagles ahead in the final minutes before the team ultimately came away with the 2-0 win.

With the win, the Lady Eagles moved to 6-4 on the year with a 2-2 record in region play(third place).

Eastside’s boys team dominates at Sharp

It was a 5-0 win for the Eagles on Friday as Eastside seemed to be in control from the very start of the action.

In a game that featured Eastside have many shots on goal while the Raiders struggled to have any, it was safe to say head coach Jabari Bennett was pleased with the team’s effort.

“I feel we dominated the game very well,” Bennett said. “I would say in my opinion this was our best performance. I don’t care about the score line, it’s about how we move the ball around and this has to be the best performance of the season for us.”

The game saw a slow start through the first few minutes, but the Eagles began to up the pressure.

Eastside pushed the first goal across in the opening 15 minutes on a header from Griffin Lane.

Lane was on the receiving end of a corner before placing his header into the side of the net past Madison County’s keeper.

The Eagles mounted a few more scoring chances late in the first half but were unable to get any points out of it.

Shots from Hudson Harris, Ben Weaver and Alexis Vieyra were off the mark.

After a low-scoring first half, the second half was all Eastside.

It did not take long for senior Thomas Hill to break the game open for the Eagles.

Midway through the second half, Harris sent a good cross into the box before Hill scored the goal on one touch with a Madison County defender on him.

With 18 minutes left in the half, Hill did it again.

Hill had the ball at the edge of the box before maneuvering around a defender and shooting across the keeper for the goal. Hill’s second goal of the match gave the Eagles a 3-0 advantage.

After a game that saw a lot of offense from the Eagles, Bennett made sure to praise his defensive unit for making it all possible.

“Honestly, we got more than I expected. I was thinking about two or three, but not five,"Bennett said. “I have to give props to my defenders, they have been the actual glue to this team. They have done excellent this season, I could not be more proud of them. From my attackers, to my midfielders to my defenders, I could not be more proud of them, seriously.”

Even then, the Eagles were not done.

Weaver, who came short of multiple headers earlier in the game, finally got one to land as the senior’s header scored from close range.

A few minutes later, Harris made it a 5-0 lead.

Harris took a lofty shot from outside the box that went just over the reach of the Raiders’ keeper for the goal.

The goal from Harris put the final touches on Eastside’s 5-0 win at home.

The win moved the Eagles to an impressive 10-0 start with a 4-0 record in region play(first place). With the team’s rankings and expectations rising, Bennett shared how the team is staying level-headed and not listening to the “rat poison”.

“The way we keep them grounded is that we just need to keep working,” Bennett said. “Honestly, we dont bring up the fact of where we are right now, everyone knows, we don’t need to say it everyday. We are taking it one game at a time, we don't want to get sucked into the poison, as one of my players said. Looking at the rankings is rat poison, it does nothing for us to look at that. I try to keep us humble and grounded and looking at the next game.”

What’s next

Both of Eastside’s teams will have a week off before taking on another region opponent in the North Oconee Titans on Friday, March 28 at Sharp Stadium.