When the state soccer playoffs begin later this month, it will have a distinct Cherokee County flavor.

For the first time in history, Cherokee, Creekview and Woodstock have qualified for the state playoffs, joining Sequoyah, which is a veteran at participating in the playoffs.

Woodstock (10-3) punched its ticket to the playoffs on April 1 with a 6-0 victory over Murray County and followed with a 5-0 thumping of South Cobb on Friday to clinch the No. 3 seed from Area 5-AAAAA.

Creekview, which saw its season-high six-game win streak come to an end at Tommy Baker Field in Canton, secured its inaugural playoff berth on Friday with a 1-0 loss at Galloway. The Lady Grizzlies could have won the Area 10 A/AA regular season title with the victory over the Lady Scots but ends the regular season with a 4-1 area record. Heading into the match, Creekview had a six-goal cushion in relation to the tiebreaker with Holy Innocents. Meaning if Creekview, Holy Innocents and Galloway finish in a three-way tie atop the area standings, Creekview wins the tiebreaker because of goal differential between them and Holy Innocents. Creekview needed to avoid a six-goal loss to Galloway to punch its ticket to the playoffs.

Unfortunately the Lady Grizzlies will be on the road for the playoffs, as will Cherokee, which earned the No. 4 spot in 5-AAAA.

Both Cherokee and Creekview had more important games to play last week, but pride took over in their inaugural varsity soccer match on March 31.

With both teams eyeing state playoff berths for the first time in school history, the Lady Warriors continued their season-long win streak, beating the Lady Grizzlies 3-2. Cherokee followed with an 2-1 triumph over Hillgrove last Wednesday for its fourth straight win. The win also secured that elusive playoff berth.

However, the Lady Grizzlies nearly lost one of their best offensive weapons for Friday’s match against Galloway when Eli Arthur was issued a soft red card in the waning moments of the Cherokee game. Arthur created a turnover in the offensive zone and scored a goal with 4:16 left to cut the Cherokee lead to 3-2.

In an attempt to speed up the game, Arthur got the ball from the back of the goal and ran it back to mid-circle for the restart. Although it is a common occurrence in club soccer, the officials considered it taunting and gave Arthur a soft red card, excusing her from the rest of the game.

“Overall I thought my girls did really well,” said Creekview head coach Kerri Schmitt, whose three of the team’s losses have come against county foes. “I think mentally they got out of it when Eli got that red at the end. I think they didn’t think it was very fair.”

The loss of Arthur hurt Creekview’s dynamic duo of Arthur and Whitley Dover, who combined for the Lady Grizzlies’ first goal of the match against Cherokee.

With the Lady Warriors up 1-0 eight minutes into the match, Arthur got the ball in the midfield and sprinted down the right wing and past a Cherokee defender. Arthur made a crossing pass to Dover for the equalizer with 32:26 left in the first half.

It would be the only goals of the half, as the defenses for the two teams stepped up in a half where both teams raced up and down the field.

The Lady Warriors, led by Caity Michel’s two goals, put 10 shots on goal against Creekview goalkeeper Jessica Estes in the first half and had 14 shots on goal in the second half when they controlled the tempo for the majority of the final 40 minutes.

Estes finished with 10 saves for the Lady Grizzlies, including a save on a penalty kick with 15 minutes left in the match.

“Creekview has definitely improved from their JV schedule last year. They definitely have some talented players,” Cherokee head coach Chrissy Culver said. “Our defense played pretty well, but they have had better games. We were just wanting to get a rhythm as far as possession goes heading into [Hillgrove].”

Cherokee appeared to get into a rhythm in the second half, as Sarah Ruiz, Annelyse Wiggins and Allison Weaver played solid defense to keep the Lady Grizzlies off the board. When Dover and company managed to get a shot off, Cherokee keeper Mia Johnson was up to the task.

The 5-foot-10 sophomore, who was a reserve on the region championship basketball team, has developed into a solid player in the cage for the Lady Warriors. She made 10 saves, including six in the first half.

One of Johnson’s saves came on a corner kick by Creekview’s Megan Hill. Hill was trying to connect on a crossing pass with Dover, who was standing near the far post. Johnson leaped up and won the ball in the air to thwart a scoring chance.

“She is a very tall keeper,” Schmitt said. “She made some great saves. Megan Hill would’ve had two goals on her on balls that were in the air, but she did a good job of making saves, and their defense did a great job.”

For the first 23 minutes, the two teams were in a stalemate before Michel used great individual effort to tally her team-high 20th goal of the season. Michel faked out a Creekview defender and broke through the right wing and uncorked a shot that found the opposite side of the lower corner for a 2-1 lead.

Less than two minutes later, the Lady Warriors added to their lead.

Keeping pressure on Estes and the Creekview defense, Cherokee pushed the ball deep into the offensive zone thanks to Michel, who broke loose down the left wing. Estes was caught out of the goal, and Michel attempted a crossing pass to Tori Lewey, who was taken down inside the box and getting a penalty kick.

Junior Erica Goldschmidt took the penalty kick, but Estes got a hand on it. After a short pause, Cherokee’s Kelly Hall tracked down the loose ball and passed the ball to Michel, who tallied her second goal to give Cherokee a 3-1 lead with 15:38 left in the game.

“Last week we did not follow on the penalty kick, and this week we emphasized on making sure we followed,” Culver said. “We worked very hard to get it in the goal area.”

Holding onto a two-goal advantage, Culver dropped three players back on defense and took Goldschmidt and Michel, who had missed wide of the cage on a couple of opportunities for a hat trick, out of the game.

Cherokee maintained control of the ball for the majority of the next 10 minutes. Creekview had a pair of corner kicks that failed to generate a shot on goal, and Weaver played strong defense to prevent Arthur from getting a shot on goal during a breakaway with 12 minutes left in the game.

The Lady Grizzlies never threatened until Arthur’s hard work resulted in her goal with 4:16 left.

It would be the last shot on goal Creekview would generate in the contest.