COVINGTON, Ga. — The historic run for the Eastside boys soccer program ended Wednesday with a 1-6 loss to St. Pius X Catholic in the Sweet 16 of the Class AAAA playoffs.

The undefeated Eagles were matched up with the 15-4 Golden Lions after defeating McDonough 10-0 in the first round. St. Pius won 3-2 over Benedictine to begin its playoff run.

A large group of fans gathered in the seats of Sharp Stadium to watch a pair of 15-win teams battle for a chance to make it to the Elite Eight.

Golden Lions set the tone early

From the very start of the match, St. Pius was on the attack.

The Golden Lions held majority of the possession early on and found ways to put pressure on the Eagles’ defenders as well as shots on goal against Tucker Consuegra.

Five minutes in, St. Pius put itself ahead.

Liam Dixon was on the receiving end of a corner kick and placed the ball into the side of the net from close range to break the scoring open.

Two minutes later, St. Pius added on.

From just inside the box, Ivan Lipscomb scored on a power shot to put the Golden Lions ahead 2-0 in just seven minutes of play.

After falling 0-2, the Eagles started to find some momentum and the ability to make runs on the offensive end.

However, an experienced and physical back line for St. Pius played well for the full 80. Following the match, Eastside head coach Jabari Bennett discussed how the team wanted to attack the St. Pius defense.

“From the offensive standpoint, we knew they were going to play a high line,” Bennett said. “The goal was to actually split the defenders, play up and play over them. It just did not work out the way we wanted it to today. We kept switching our formation and that did not work either. St. Pius is a really good team, I wish them the best of luck for the rest of their season of course. Very nice kids and great players, it was just not our night tonight.”

A close call came at the 28-minute mark, when a Hudson Harris corner kick resulted in a Malachi Scharf header that just banged off the left post for a miss.

Wanderson Johnson put a shot on goal a few minutes later, but St. Pius’ Lorenzo Morales made the save.

After holding possession for an extended amount of time, a costly mistake led to another goal for the Golden Lions.

A pass back from the Eagles’ attackers was offline and went right into the possession of St. Pius’ Zach Whipple, who dribbled down the field and past Consuegra for the goal.

With 12 minutes left in the first half, St. Pius made it a 4-0 lead on a short-range goal from Nico Maio.

Senior Thomas Hill had a few chances late in the half, including a shot on goal from inside the box, but the St. Pius' defense stayed stout to prevent any damage before halftime.

Just after 10 minutes into the second half, the Golden Lions extended their lead to 2-0.

Five minutes in, Maio scored his second goal of the match from inside the box. 

Shortly thereafter, Maio completed the hat trick. Maio scored on a header that was deflected and tipped a few times before going into the net for the goal.

With 26 minutes left in the match, Eastside found the back of the net.

Hill made a deep run into the box to his right. He was met by a St. Pius defender as well as the keeper, but stayed composed to score a physical goal that saw all three players go to the ground.

Hill’s goal proved to be the final action of the night for either team as they went scoreless for the remainder of the match.

Historic season for Bennett and the Eagles

Eastside’s boys soccer program returned to old, but famalair heights in Bennett’s first season at the helm.

A 14-0 finish in the regular season and a region title — the program's first since 2001.

Although it was his first season, Bennett’s ties to his senior group go back much further than high school.

“I will be blunt, I have watched these kids grow up even before I was here. At the YMCA, I watched them all grow up, and to watch them grow up and be the nice gentleman they are. To watch and to be able to coach them their senior year [and] to be blessed with this wonderful season,” Bennett said. “I do not care about the season scoreline or about tonight or the other scorelines, I really care about the guys. These guys are like my little brothers. I've watched them since they were young. These seniors will be missed. Not just for their skill, but for their presence, their leadership on and off the field [and] on the bench, at practice. We can't replace that. You can't replace that. We have a great group of kids coming up, but this group of kids will always have a special place in my heart.”

With a lot to build on after a successful first season, Bennett took time to reflect on his first run as head coach.

“I know we went undefeated this year, but I still have a lot to learn,” Bennett said. “I still need to know certain things about being a head coach and that comes with experience. It was only my first year and yes, I did very well, but I won’t deny I had a really great team behind my back and that has helped me a lot. But, I think next year we will do just fine, I just have to learn from the mistakes I made this year and move on from that. We got to play.”