WATKINSVILLE, Ga. – Despite having to go on the road twice in the 2025 playoffs, Johnson finds itself right back in familiar surroundings.
The No. 2-ranked Knights held off No. 1-ranked and Region 8-3A champion Oconee County 2-0 on Friday in the Class 3A semifinals.
The win pushed Johnson (15-4) into its fifth consecutive finals spanning three different classifications. The Knights will take on No. 3 Northwest Whitfield (17-2), who beat Jefferson 1-0 in the other semifinal, on Wednesday at 7:30 p.m. at McEachern Stadium in Powder Springs.
Evan Rohde broke a scoreless in the first half with a nifty goal for a 1-0 lead and it stayed until the waning seconds. Junior Castillo iced it for Johnson with just 17 seconds remaining in the match.
After a 2-2 start to the season, Johnson has gone 13-2 since, including five in a row down the stretch and allowing just 2 goals in the playoffs.
“We're playing some of the best soccer we've played all season against some good opponents,” Knights’ coach Frank Zamora said. “Chestatee was a great opponent. And Oconee County (tonight).”
Friday’s win also capped a wild eight days for the Knights. It began last week with a second round game getting washed out until Monday. Then playing the next night against Chestatee in the quarterfinals, and culminating with a semifinal win on Friday for essentially three games in 5 days.
Quite the accomplishment.
“Playing back to back games. Obviously we had some tired legs tonight, which Oconee definitely took advantage of,” Zamora said. “But at the end of the day we were able to finish this one. But the goal is not accomplished yet.”
