GAINESVILLE — Elie Viviant did not quite get the typical, all-out performance he was looking for from his team on Tuesday night.
But Tuesday night's game was anything but usual.
The Gainesville boys soccer team played Winder-Barrow to a 0-0 standstill for 40 minutes at City Park -- thanks to a 1-0 lead the Red Elephants already held from March 29 it was enough to secure the Region 8-6A championship. (Tuesday's finish was a continuation of a game postponed due to weather just prior to spring break.)
"It was a strange game, only 40 minutes -- it's weird to play a game like that," Viviant said. "And we didn't really play as well as I would have liked. But we won the game, and that's what we needed to do."
It also showed that Gainesville appears to be over the wobble that heaped so much import on this game. After winning 11 straight to start the season, the fourth-ranked Red Elephants (14-2, 8-2 Region 8-6A) dropped two straight in region play just before the original Winder home contest. Now Gainesville is on a three-game win streak, heading into the state playoffs as a No. 1 seed with the guarantee of at least two contests at City Park.
"We'll be tough to beat here," Viviant said of a team that has yielded just two goals in seven home contests this season in a bid to get back to the state title game for a second straight season. "I think we are one of the best four teams in the state (in Class 6A), but anybody can win one game. And our first round game is going to be very tough."
The Red Elephants were certainly hard to break down in their 40-minute performance on Tuesday, hogging possession for much of the game and allowing only three hopeful potshots when the Bulldoggs did get within sight of the Gainesville goal.
Meanwhile, the Red Elephants missed finishing off four separate chances that came as a result of well-worked passing and timely runs down the wing. And while Gainesville knows it must capitalize on those opportunities in the postseason, it helps to know that it will enter the postseason in very friendly surroundings.
The Red Elephants finish off the regular season on Friday against Riverside Military at City Park. Gainesville's state playoffs begin on April 25.
