HOGANSVILLE – Pink was the color of the day for the Callaway High soccer teams.

Instead of their traditional black and white uniforms, Callaway’s boys’ and girls’ teams were each wearing pink tops as part of cancer-awareness day.

The teams also used a pink ball during the matches against Brookstone, and there were pink ribbons painted onto the field as well, as well as pink lines.

Callaway boys’ coach Jake Hembree said parents Jeff McGuffin and Brandon Brooks did a great job getting the field ready for Friday’s games.

“You talk about parent involvement. Jeff McGuffin, and Brandon Brooks, they were out here last night until midnight getting the field ready,” Hembree said. “And Jeff was back out here today fixing it up. It was beautiful.”

Also, each player submitted the name of someone close to them who was impacted by cancer, and that person’s name was imprinted on the back of the jersey.

“Everybody out there had a name on the back,” Callaway girls’ coach Kristen Clonts said. “It tells you why we need to have that awareness. I think it hits everybody.”

Unfortunately for the home teams, the night belonged to Brookstone.

In the girls’ game, it was Brookstone coming away with a 5-1 victory, with Chloe McGuffin scoring Callaway’s lone goal.

It was a defensive struggle in the boys’ game, with Brookstone prevailing 2-0.

It was the first game for the Lady Cavaliers in more than two weeks, and they had their full team on the field for the first time in awhile.

Leading scorer Savannah Thompson had missed a few games with an ankle injury, but she was back on Friday.

Some other players who had been nursing injuries are healthy as well, so Callaway appears well-positioned to make a strong push in the season’s home stretch.

Callaway is 4-3 in Region 5-AAA, and it has three big region games next week, beginning with Monday’s game at Cedartown.

“We had so many hurt,” Clonts said. “Before spring break, pretty much the whole team was hurting. So at least they’re all healed up.”

Clonts had hoped her team would come out on top on Friday, but it wasn’t meant to be.

“They’re such a good match for us,” Clonts said of Brookstone. “And really, it should have been closer. But we just weren’t in our groove. But they’ll get there. Monday we play Cedartown, and they’ll be able to get their minds right.”

In Friday’s boys’ game, Brookstone scored a first-half goal to take a 1-0 lead.

That’s the way it remained until Brookstone scored a second goal with less than two minutes remaining in the game.

“It was a very defensive battle back and forth,” Hembree said.

Hembree said sophomore goal keeper Hugo Lopez continues to play well.

“He’s good. That’s one of our high points,” Hembree said. “And he’s a sophomore, so that’s the best part.”

The Cavaliers will bring a 3-3 region record into Monday’s game at Cedartown, and Hembree figures his team will be tough to beat if it can find some offense.

“If we can get our offense rolling in tough games, we’ll be fine,” he said.

LAGRANGE: The Lady Grangers evened their Region 1-AAAAA record at 2-2 with a 3-1 overtime victory over Shaw.

LaGrange dominated the game with a 23-1 advantage on shots on goal, but Shaw was awarded a penalty kick, and it converted it to notch its lone goal.

LaGrange scored two goals in overtime to put it away.

Maddie Patton scored LaGrange’s goal in regulation, and Reagan Peters and Catherine Patton both scored in overtime.

In Friday’s boys’ game, it was Shaw claiming a 3-0 win, dropping LaGrange to 1-3 in the region.

OF NOTE: For more photos from Callaway’s games on Friday, check out facebook.com/LDNsports

Reach Kevin Eckleberry at (706) 884-7311 or on Twitter @lagrangesports