North Davie and South Davie produced the highest drama you could ever hope for in a middle-school soccer game at South on March 27. The game went to a shootout before South prevailed 5-4.

“It was an awesome game,” South coach Russell Hilton said. “I think both teams are evenly matched.”

But it appeared that North was overmatched in the early going. South’s Skylar Link scored the first two goals, both assisted by Katie Shupe. Then Link assisted Nayeli Hernandez as South sped to a 3-0 lead.

“Then we got a little complacent,” Hilton said.

North regrouped in time to close the halftime gap to 3-2. Madison Hayes gave South a 4-2 lead – Link assisted, giving her four points on the day – but North answered with back-to-back goals to force a tie at 4.

Reece Sigmon had three of North’s goals in regulation, one of which was assisted by Arasely Santamaria. Christine Cao had the other goal.

South won the coin toss and opted to make North go first in the shootout.

North’s Cao and South’s Hernandez both converted in round one. In round two, South’s Jesyca Ivaroni and North’s Sophia Aguayo-Bermudez had saves to keep things even.

“(Bermudez) made an awesome save,” Hilton said. “She went way up high to block that one.”

In round three, Ivaroni made “an awesome save” for South. Bermudez did the same for North, denying a Hayes shot.

In round four, North’s shot sailed wide of the goal and South’s Shupe converted to put the Tigers ahead by one.

Then it all came down to round five. North’s Avery Yount tied it at 2-2. Now North needed to stop a Kimberly Torres shot. Torres would not be denied, scoring to complete the instant classic.

“They came running off the bench, hugging and cheering,” Hilton said. “Win or lose, I wanted somebody to be determined the winner. It was big for some of the girls to experience that.”

The loss did not diminish a tremendous effort by the Wildcats, who lost for the first time in three games. South improved to 3-1. The teams split last season.

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Everything’s rosy for Ellis, which outscored two opponents 14-1 last week to remain unbeaten.

The Jaguars punished Summit 10-1 on the road on March 27. Rebecca Devericks drove in three goals and Taylor Smith and Emily Agejew had two apiece as Ellis mounted a 7-0 halftime lead and cruised from there.

“We went into the game a bit unsure of how we would do,” coach Leah Reynolds said. “Summit was bringing down some varsity eight-grade players, and there was a lot of uncertainty with how we would fare against them. We decided to move some players around to strengthen our defensive line.”

Karlie Quinn, Cesia Bernardino and Emily Garner had one goal each. Lexi Kulis had an assist.

“Our defensive line and midfield did a great job and moved the ball back to the Summit side of the field,” Reynolds said. “We were playing confidently, making some great passes and looking up to make sure we were passing to our own players.”

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The Jaguars were supposed to dominate visiting South Davie on March 28, and they did just that, winning 4-0.

South hung around in the first half, trailing 1-0, but Ellis kicked into high gear after halftime and ran its record to 4-0. South, which has never beaten Ellis, fell to 3-2.

Devericks turned in her second straight hat trick, giving her nine goals in four games. Quinn had the other goal. But several other Jags deserve great credit for the convincing win.

“As always, Agejew was outstanding in goal fending off shots,” Reynolds said. “Defenders Mackenzie Moore, Nicole Korczyk, Sophia Heagle, Mya McGowan and Kiara Perez prevented South from taking many shots on goal. South played a physical game but our midfielders – Kulis, Garner and Taylor Smith – did a great job battling against them.

“(In the second half), our midfielders/forwards Quinn, Anny Moreno, Smith, Garner, Bernardino and Liliana Romero started to work together, moving the ball around and managing several shots.”