By Garth Shanklin
Sports Editor

Southern Buckeye Academic and Athletic Conference play began for a few local boys’ soccer teams last week.

The Williamsburg Wildcats and Clermont Northeastern Rockets squared off on Aug. 23 and while there was plenty of offense, neither side picked up the win as the match ended in a 3-3 tie.

That same night, the Bethel-Tate Tigers continued their undefeated start to the season with a 4-2 win over Georgetown. Amelia and Norwood battled to a scoreless draw, and Felicity-Franklin fell to Blanchester 4-1. Goshen also dropped a 3-0 decision to Western Brown.

New Richmond and Amelia were the only two Clermont County schools in action, and New Richmond earned a 3-0 victory over the Barons. Jonathan Lang, Grant Anderson and Keaton Montgomery tallied the Lions’ three goals, with Aaron Prescott recording the shutout.

The Bethel-Tate Tigers returned to action on Aug. 25 with a convincing 9-0 win over Felicity. Zack Boston and Casey Fischer netted two goals each with Jake Clift, Corey Struve, Lukas Papadatos, John Day and Robbu Perkins each adding one. Tyler Baker earned a shutout with three saves. That same night, Batavia defeated Goshen 8-1 and Williamsburg fell to Georgetown 5-2.

Several Bulldogs had a hand in the scoring, as Austin King tallied three goals for Batavia while Jacob Knechtly, Bryce Zenni, Lucas Herron, Isaac Wiederhold and Nick Oliverio chipped in a goal apiece.

In the Eastern Cincinnati Conference, Milford was blanked by Lakota East 5-0. The Eagles also lost a 3-2 battle against Hamilton on Aug. 27.

Bethel-Tate got a head start on winning games in the third week of the regular season by knocking off Fayetteville in a non-conference bout 6-1.

On Sept. 1, several local teams take the pitch. Williamsburg visits Felicity at 4:30 p.m. while Bethel-Tate takes on Blanchester at 5 p.m. Clermont Northeastern and Goshen host Georgetown and Norwood, respectively, in contests that also begin at 5 p.m.

Milford hosts Turpin at 7 p.m. while Amelia visits Batavia and New Richmond hosts Western Brown. Those games also begin at 7 p.m. Glen Este’s road trip to Walnut Hills begins at 7:30 p.m.