When coach Jamie McClendon and his staff were preparing the A.C. Flora boys soccer team to face perennial power Greenville on Tuesday, May 12, the plan was simple.

"We wanted to stay organized defensively because we knew they were pretty good on the ball up top," McClendon said. "We wanted to stop their penetration in the middle but didn't want to get unbalanced. Then we wanted to counter attack as much as possible."

That strategy and the Falcons' execution of it delivered a 1- 0 victory in the first round of the Class 3A playoffs at Bolden Stadium.

Junior Alex Richards produced the goal in the 43rd minute on a header off a direct kick by Cameron Wegrzyn. That direct kick was produced on a counter attack.

That left the defense to withstand repeated Greenville scoring threats the rest of the way.

"(The defense) wanted to work together and communicate together," said senior defender Cory McDonald, who only returned to the lineup three weeks ago following a late- winter knee injury. McDonald missed eight minutes of Greenville's late flurry because of an injured groin.

The A.C. Flora defense met the challenge thanks to saves by senior goalie Max McEachern and critical blocks or breakups by each defender.

"You could see they were getting frustrated," senior defender Morgan Mitchell said. "We were cutting off the long balls in the middle, but we were leaving the outside open (in the first half). At halftime, we made the adjustment."

The Red Raiders held an advantage in possession and field position, largely because Greenville's midfield had room to work in the first half and they pressed forward after falling behind.

"That's just the way it worked out," McEachern said of the tradeoff for the defensive focus. "We wanted to make sure any ball in the air was ours and tried to stay perfect in our marking. Our defense is pretty good."

Indeed, it is good enough for the Falcons to play at least another day.