Central Georgia Sports ReportNovember 17, 2019Comment

Sunday's Daily News 'n Notes: Mercer takes SoCon men's soccer title, again; Falcons shock, again; signings, Honor Roll, and The Scoreboard

Central Georgia Sports ReportNovember 17, 2019Comment

Sunday's Central Georgia - and of interest to Central Georgia - news and notes, compiled from staff reports, email reports, the web, and social media.

Mercer wins Southern Conference men’s soccer title, again

Nothing like celebrating a championship on the home team’s turf.

That’s what Mercer did Sunday evening, beating UNC Greensboro 1-0 at UNCG Soccer Stadium in Greensboro to win the Southern Conference men’s soccer championship.

Again.

It’s the third time in four years Mercer has brought the trophy home.

The fourth seed Bears couldn’t get a bunch of offense going, being outshot 24-11 and forcing no saves on the other end. But J.R. DeRose came up with four saves to keep Mercer in the defensive battle.

UNCG got nine corner kicks to only two for Mercer.

But Trevor Martineau picked off pass and started sprinting, the all-conference first-teamer beating the goalie for the score at the 62nd minute. And DeRose fended two more shots, joining Martineau, Leo Toledo Jr., and Robert Arteaga on the all-tournament team, DeRose taking MVP honors.

This was the third straight time the Bears and Spartans have met in the finale, UNCG surprising the top-seeded Bears last year in the semifinals.

Mercer, 14-6, will find out Monday who it gets in the NCAA Tournament.

Who did what in Charlotte?

Atlanta didn’t just upset Carolina, the Falcons dominated, holding a team without a touchdown f0r 10 straight quarters in hammering the Panthers 29-3.

Carolina’s Kyle Allen threw for 325 yards, but was also picked off four times, mostly with the Panthers in decent field position. And the Falcons did something with a few of them.

Matt Ryan had a nice day in moving into the top 10 all-time in passing yardage.

Box

A new season indeed

Ryan reaches career milestone

Plays, no matter the caller, are being made

O was OK, too

A ‘comedy of terrible’

Takeaways (not INTs of Allen)

Former Georgia Southern head coach Monken, at Army, returns to the Macon Touchdown Club.

Former Georgia Southern head coach and current Army boss Jeff Monken is Monday night’s speaker at the Macon Touchdown Club.

The club meets at the Methodist Home for Children and Youth, in the Rumford Center, at 304 Pierce Ave. It starts at 6:30 p.m. with dinner and the program to begin around 7. Cost is $30 for non-members.

ACE is the featured high school.

West Alabama’s Brett Gilliland is the final speakers of the regular season.

Monken is in his sixth season at Army and is 40-34, the Black Knights improving to 5-6 after Saturday’s 47-6 win over VMI of the Southern Conference. Army faces Hawaii on Dec. 1, and then battles Navy on Dec. 14.

He was 38-16 in four seasons as head coach at Georgia Southern, including a win at Florida. He coached under Paul Johnson at Georgia Southern, Navy and Georgia Tech.

Monken, a Joliet, Illinois native, graduated from Millikin and was a grad assistant at Hawaii and Arizona State before starting his career at Buffalo. He followed with two seasons in high school and then joined Johnson at Georgia Southern in 2007.

TD Club taps players from Jones County, FPD

A Greyhound and a Viking earned honors from the Macon Touchdown Club.

Jones County’s Andrew Carner is the back of the week after going 15 times for 177 yards and two touchdowns in the Greyhounds’ first-round win over South Effingham.

FPD’s Harry Greer is the lineman of the week after racking up nine tackles, two sacks, a fumble recovery and 29-yard interception return for a touchdown in the Vikings’ heartbreaking overtime loss at Wesleyan.

There were no special teams nominations.

Monday Morning Quarterback

Coming Monday morning: Loughdmouthings, and more high school football.

In The Latest Coverage by mid-morning.

More signings