Callaway soccer league returns

Published 3:15 am Tuesday, June 15, 2021

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By KEVIN ECKLEBERRY

Daily News

After a year’s hiatus, Callaway High’s seven-on-seven soccer league is back.

The league has been a summertime fixture at Callaway, but it was canceled last year because of COVID-19.

The league is back this summer, and play will begin on Tuesday at 6 p.m.

Due to a variety of reasons, there are only three teams participating, and they will play a round-robin series of games on Tuesday.

Callaway is joined by Central-Carroll and Heritage of Newnan in the league, and they’ll each play two games.

“Heritage and Central have been doing it for a long time,” said Callaway head coach Mike Petite. “East Coweta has been a staple, but they’ve turned over their coach and won’t be here, and LaGrange has been doing their 3 vs. 3 thing for a while, and Troup isn’t in it this year. So we’ll make do with who we’ve got. Regardless, we’ll get a chance to play and have some fun.”

The seven-on-seven game is a lot different than traditional soccer.

The field is shorter, there are fewer players, it is faster-paced, and usually there are a lot more goals scored.

“There’s no place to hide, and everybody has to contribute,” Petite said. “It forces you to do more stuff, whether you’re comfortable or not. It’ll make us better when we start 11 vs. 11.”

The players, Petite noted, are looking forward to the change of pace.

“I’ve got some guys who can’t make it to practice, but they make sure to let me know they’ll be there for seven vs. seven,” Petite said. “They want to make sure I know they’re coming. They have a good time with it. It’s really fun. They enjoy it, and we get a lot out of it as a team. It only helps our program for sure.”

Tuesday’s games

6 p.m. – Central-Carroll vs. Heritage

7 p.m. – Callaway vs. Central-Carroll

8 p.m. – Callaway vs. Heritage