By KEVIN ECKLEBERRY

Daily News

The LaGrange Grangers made their regular-season home debut on Wednesday, and it was a winning night.

Three different LaGrange players scored goals in a 3-1 victory over Bremen at Callaway Stadium.

Harrison Hunnicutt got the scoring started for the Grangers with a nice goal off of a corner kick from Grayson Bartley.

John McDonald scored LaGrange’s second goal with a cross from Alex Bowie, and Liam McDonald had the home team’s third and final goal.

It was the first game in nearly two weeks for the Grangers (2-2-1), who are playing under first-year head coach Shane Pulliam.

Pulliam said there has been a heavy emphasis on defense during recent practices, and he felt like that effort paid dividends.

“The last week, we went over defending individually, defending as a group, defending as a midfield group,” Pulliams said. “And I think we did a good job defending-wise, and covering the spots we needed to.”

Before Wednesday’s game, the last time LaGrange was in action was in a tournament in Houston County when it went 1-2.

The Grangers headed into that tournament after having to take four days off because of the winter storm.

“Having the week off for snow kind of put us behind, and we weren’t really ready for the Houston tournament the way we needed to be,” Pulliam said. “And we had half the team recovering from flu symptoms when we did play. And then we played three games in a 24-hour period.”

After losing its tournament opener, LaGrange thumped Dublin 10-0 before falling to Etowah 4-1.

“It was the third game in 24 hours, and we were just dead,” Pulliam said.

In Wednesday’s girls’ game, LaGrange pulled even with a goal early in the second half, but it was Bremen walking away with a 2-1 victory.

Trailing 1-0, LaGrange tied it in the first few minutes of the second half on a goal by Sydney Ormsby, with Maggie Asbell assisting.

Bremen went back ahead midway through the second half, and LaGrange was unable to answer.

Expectations are high for the Lady Grangers after they won a region championship and reached the quarterfinals of the state playoffs last season.

As coach Andy Fritchley pointed out following Wednesday’s game, though, there is still work to do.

LaGrange went 2-1 during a tournament it hosted two weeks ago, and Wednesday’s game was its first in 11 days.

“That’s exactly what this game was for us was to measure and see where how we come since our tournament,” Fritchley said. “We had a good tournament, but clearly we’re not where we need to be, and the entire team knows that.”

LaGrange’s teams will be on the road against Callaway on Friday, with the girls’ game starting at 5:30 p.m. and the boys’ game to follow.

OF NOTE: For more photos, check out Facebook.com/LDNSports