EDITOR’S NOTE: This is the third of a 13-part series looking back at the year in local sports. The series will culminate with the top 10 stories of the year on Jan. 1.

The Spalding Jaguars boys soccer team (8-3 overall, 5-0 region 4-AAA at the time) built up a first-place ranking by the end of March and it shutout its last opponent of March, the Eastside-Covington Eagles, by a score of 6-0 to round out a 4-game win streak.

“We jumped on them early and didn’t let up. I’m extremely proud of the guys’ efforts,” said Jags head coach Scott Henderson at the time.

The Jags got off to a great start, scoring their first goal five minutes into the match on a breakaway by Jake Mathis. Thomas made a nice assist to Mathis on the play to get things started for the road team. Two minutes later, Turner scored the first of his two consecutive goals — on an assist by Thomas — for the 2-0 Jags lead and Josh Bingham gave Turner a nice cross for the third goal of the match to put Spalding up 3-0.

Bingham set up Jake Jeffcoat’s shot for a goal late in the first half to give Spalding the 4-0 lead at the half.

The second half was more of the same — good Spalding offense and even better Spalding defense. Jamey Lawrence scored minutes into the half on the final assist from Thomas to give the Jags a 5-0 lead and later in the half, Lawrence made several cuts down the field and fed teammate Braxton Stephens who scored Spalding’s last goal for the 6-0 match win.

Spalding had 20 shots for the match while Eastside was only able to get 5 shots.

“I have to give credit to Vincent Harper on the defensive end against Eastside,” said Henderson then. “He read their plays well and helped us do a great job of shutting them down.”

Other noteworthy area events in the month of March:

*The Griffin High Lady Bears tennis team went 8-2 overall, 3-2 Region 4-AAAA in March, resulting in an early berth in the mid-April region tournament.

*The Spalding Jaguars baseball team rebounded after a rocky 0-2 start to the season. The Jags went 11-2 in the month of March, including winning 9 games straight to end the month.

*The Griffin High rifle team reached the state semifinals one year after their championship run.