In their quest for the program’s first state title, the Creekview Grizzlies are in prime position.
The Grizzlies (13-2), are champions of Class 5A-6A’s Area 4 and enter the postseason ranked No. 2. Grizzlies first-year coach Matt Webb hopes they can exceed last year’s success, when they reached the 6A-7A championship.
“We’d love to make it back to the state championship and win it this year,” said Webb, who previously served as an assistant for Fellowship Christian’s boys.
The Grizzlies are 4-1 against ranked teams, beating No. 3 Johns Creek 13-4, No. 8 Cambridge 14-10, No. 9 Roswell 15-5 and 7A’s No. 8 Hillgrove 11-6. They went 5-0 against Area 4 competition and outscored it 81-19.
Junior attack Christina Warren leads the team with 40 goals scored, and senior midfielder Ansley Walters has 19 goals and 11 assists. Senior midfielder Jenny Blanton leads the team with 26 ground balls, and senior attack Tatiana Gouger has 10 goals and nine assists. All four are team captains.
Providing depth are sophomore midfielder Rilynn Price, who has 18 goals, and senior attack Abbey Walker (17 goals and 11 assists).
The defense is anchored by senior Rylee Boulineau. At goalie, the Grizzlies platoon senior Frances Garcia and junior Hailey Smith, with Garcia taking the first half and Smith the second.
After beating Johns Creek on March 23 to improve to 10-0, the Grizzlies took a week off before playing at top-ranked Blessed Trinity, which beat them 12-6. Though it was a loss, Webb believes the setback helped in the long run.
“We played really well at the beginning of the season and I’m proud of the team for that,” Webb said. “But we have to keep getting better and we can’t get stationary. That loss was a test. After the Johns Creek game, we all were pretty confident in ourselves. We’d just beaten Cambridge, Walton and Lassiter. So, that Blessed Trinity game was a wakeup call.”
Blessed Trinity is the Grizzlies’ only loss to a Georgia team. After that game, they traveled to Florida for a doubleheader on April 4, winning 10-8 over Nyack (New York) and losing 9-7 to Hagerty (Fla.), ranked No. 5 overall in Florida in the MaxPreps computer rankings.
The Nyack game was unplanned, Webb said. The Grizzlies arrived in Florida to learn a scheduled opponent backed out last-minute. Hagerty coach Mitch Whittington new Nyack was in Florida training to beat the Northeast cold, and put the two teams in contact.
The improvised game turned out to be one of the highlights of Creekview’s regular season.
“It was a really good experience playing teams outside of Georgia,” Webb said. “Especially up in New York, where the competition is really good. It was nice to see the girls play well in that game.”
On Wednesday, the Grizzlies beat Kell 17-9. Their regular-season finale is Friday at North Forsyth (10-6).
The 5A-6A playoffs begin Monday. Last season as a 6A school, the Grizzlies lost 13-12 to 7A’s Milton in the championship. Now that they’re separated from the highest classification, championship aspirations could not be higher.
Webb believes the Grizzlies are prepared for another deep postseason run.
“We’ve played one of the tougher schedules in the state,” Webb said. “You need that kind of schedule if you want to expect to do well in the playoffs, where everyone gives it their best...I believe we can (return to the title game) if we put in the time and effort.”
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