Greenbrier on top again

Brian Killips remembers watching Greenbrier High School's JV boys soccer team last year and thinking it could have made the state playoffs on the varsity level.

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That's good news for the Wolfpack, but bad news for Killips, the Knights' boys soccer coach.

"They're deep every year," Killips said, after Greenbrier beat his team 5-1 to claim the top seed for the Region 3-AAAA tournament.

"They lost a lot of kids last year and you can't tell."

The No. 8 Wolfpack have breezed through subregion play with a 6-0 record.

The Knights, as the state's 14th-ranked team, had the best shot to spoil Greenbrier's fourth consecutive run to the No. 1 seed.

With a win, the Knights could have clinched the top seed. Their only region loss before Tuesday was at Greenbrier on Feb. 21.

"We thought if we kept the score down and beat them, we'd have a chance (at the No. 1 seed)," Killips said.

Instead, The Wolfpack scored two goals in the game's first four minutes.

Knights senior Paul Thompson scored with 5:17 left in the first half to bring Evans close at the break. But the Wolfpack blitzed the Knights for three goals in the first six minutes of the second half and cruised from there.

"It seemed like we came out too quick in the first half," Greenbrier coach Chip Warren said.

"We were kind of disappointed at the half. But we talked to them, and they responded."

Greenbrier claimed the top seed for the fourth consecutive season, the first time in the school's 12-year history it has been done.

James limped around after Tuesday's game with a sore hamstring.

Warren said the team's relatively light schedule the rest of the way would give his forward time to rest.

Warren expects James to be ready for April's region tournament, which might offer Evans the opportunity for a rematch.

"I've never really liked the region tournament format," Warren said.

"You have to beat a team three times. We might see Evans again."