SAKS — While Donoho was the obvious choice as the No. 1 seed on the girls side, it wasn’t quite as clear-cut which boys team deserved top billing for this week’s Calhoun County soccer tournament.

In the end, coaches sided with Donoho over White Plains during a vote at Saks High School on Sunday.

Both teams have similar resumes. The Falcons and Wildcats are both 2-0-1 against county competition. Donoho holds a 6-2-1 overall record, compared to 7-0-1 for White Plains. The coaches’ decision came down to results against common opponents with Donoho holding the slightest of advantages.

All tournament games will be played on the McClellan Fields with quarterfinals Tuesday, semifinals Friday and championship games Saturday.

With just seven teams in the boys field, Donoho receives an automatic bye into the semifinals.

“There’s a lot of talented teams in the county. White Plains is an excellent team,” Donoho boys coach Matthew Wright said. “So it just means that, you know, we don’t play the first round obviously, but we have our work cut out for us.”

Rounding out the boys field were No. 3 Weaver, No. 4 Oxford, No. 5 Faith Christian, No. 6 Jacksonville and No. 7 Saks.

The Calhoun County soccer tournament was started in 2017. Donoho’s boys won the inaugural event, while Oxford won in 2018 and 2019. Last year’s tournament was canceled because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

As the tournament makes its return this year, the Falcons are looking forward to competing against some of the county’s larger schools.

“I think it’s a good tradition, albeit a new tradition, or relatively new in the county,” Wright said. “But, I think that our kids look forward to it. Donoho, as a school, looks forward to this sort of competition, but we also understand that anytime we are in an open competition, regardless of class, we’re sort of at a competitive disadvantage, being one of the smaller schools.

“So we look forward to trying to overcome that and trying to win and maybe back up the fact that we’ve been chosen as No. 1.”

Donoho’s girls have won the tournament all three years it’s been held, and were the clear choice as the top seed this year, coming into the tournament with a 10-0-1 overall record and a 3-0 mark against county competition.

Rounding out the girls field were No. 2 Jacksonville, No. 3 Oxford, No. 4 Faith Christian, No. 5 Weaver and No. 6 Saks. With just six teams in the field, Donoho and Jacksonville will receive byes into the semifinals.

Donoho may have earned the top seed, but girls coach Jay Jenkins isn’t buying into the hype.

“It doesn’t mean anything. It just means that I don’t have to play on Tuesday. That’s it,” he said. “You have to earn your wins out there on the field, so the seed doesn’t mean anything.”

Boys seeding

(County record, overall record)

No. 1 Donoho (2-0-1, 6-2-1)

No. 2 White Plains (2-0-1, 7-0-1)

No. 3 Weaver (1-1, 4-1)

No. 4 Oxford (1-0, 2-4)

No. 5 Faith Christian (3-2, 3-6)

No. 6 Jacksonville (0-4, 1-7-1)

No. 7 Saks (1-2, 1-2)

Boys schedule

All games at McClellan Fields

Tuesday

Quarterfinals

No. 4 Oxford vs. No. 5 Faith Christian, 7 p.m.

No. 2 White Plains vs. No. 7 Saks, 7 p.m.

No. 3 Weaver vs. No. 6 Jacksonville, 7 p.m.

Friday

Semifinals

No. 1 Donoho vs. Oxford-Faith Christian winner, 5 p.m.

White Plains-Saks winner vs. Weaver-Jacksonville winner, 7 p.m.

Saturday

Championship game, 7 p.m.

Girls seeding

(County record, overall record)

No. 1 Donoho (3-0, 10-0-1)

No. 2 Jacksonville (1-1, 4-1-1)

No. 3 Oxford (1-0, 1-5)

No. 4 Faith Christian (3-2, 5-3)

No. 5 Weaver (0-2, 2-3-1)

No. 6 Saks (0-3, 0-3)

Girls schedule

All games at McClellan Fields

Tuesday

Quarterfinals

No. 4 Faith Christian vs. No. 5 Weaver, 5 p.m.

No. 3 Oxford vs. No. 6 Saks, 5 p.m.

Friday

Semifinals

No. 1 Donoho vs. Faith Christian-Weaver winner, 5 p.m.

No. 2 Jacksonville vs. Oxford-Saks winner, 5 p.m.

Saturday

Championship game, 5 p.m.