Sports Editor

The Goshen boys’ varsity team proved they were worthy of the Class 3A Area 4 title Tuesday night with a 93-79 win over Area-rival Calhoun, but things didn’t quite turn out that way.

While the win tied the Eagles at 3-1 in the Area with Calhoun and nabbed them a share of the regular season title, the Tigers will host the Area Tournament and receive the coveted first round bye. This year, however, it wasn’t the luck of the draw that gave CHS the nod.

Under new AHSAA rules when a tie occurs in an Area the two teams in question must compare their regular season records and count the number of wins they each have over teams with the same class rating or above.

It turned out that the Tigers finished with eight wins in Class 3A or above and the Eagles only nabbed six.

One might look back at the Eagles loss to Class 4A Pike County or more recently their loss to Elba, but for GHS head coach Major Lane that’s all in the past. The future is what he and his squad are interested in.

"We would have loved to have hosted, but it didn’t work out that way," Lane said. "Now we have to concentrate on getting that first win in the tournament over Luverne. If we don’t then our season is over. After that we will be fighting Calhoun again for the top spot."

If the is a rematch between Calhoun and Goshen in the championship game the two will have secured a Sub-State berth as the top two schools from each Area continue on, but win or lose Lane knows the competition down the road will be tough.

The winner of the Area will host the runner up of Area 3 and the runner up will travel to face the champion. Those two teams will more than likely be Clayton and Elba, two teams that Lane and the Eagles have had their fair share of dealing with.

"Either way you look at it we will be up against some pretty stringent competition, but if we have to play on the road it will be that much tougher," Lane said. "The first step is Luverne then we can worry about Calhoun again. It all kind of falls in order as steps we have to take to get to the big dance."

The Eagles will try to finish up strong with some tough games down the stretch. Their game with Brantley tonight has been canceled, but they will play Friday on the road at Highland Home and come home a week from today to host Elba in what could be a Sub-State preview.