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By KEVIN ECKLEBERRY

Daily News

For one night each year, the Callaway High soccer players swap out their normal jerseys for pink tops as part of cancer awareness night.

Callaway brought the pink jerseys out of storage on Wednesday for the girls’ and boys’ games against Chapel Hill.

While it was Chapel Hill earning the wins, it was nonetheless a special night as it is every year when the Callaway soccer family honors and recognizes those individuals who have had cancer.

“Tonight is the one night that you play for somebody other than Callaway,” said Mike Petite, the head coach of the boys’ team. “Yeah, you want to win, but you want to have pride in how you play, how you conduct yourself. There’s a lot of significance for the guys. Cancer has touched so many people, and they feel that.”

Unfortunately for the home teams, they were unable to come away with wins.

In the girls’ game, Chapel Hill led 3-1 at the half, and it went on to claim a 6-1 victory.

Callaway jumped on top early, with Myracle Spence scoring on an assist from Mary Kate Baswell, but the rest of the game belonged to Chapel Hill.

In the boys’ game, Grayson Batchelor scored Callaway’s lone goal in a 7-1 loss.

Batchelor, a freshman, leads the Cavaliers with eight goals this season, while fellow freshman Journee Jordan and junior Blake Eubanks have six goals apiece.

Callaway (4-9-1) has played a challenging schedule that head coach Mike Petite hopes will have the team prepared for the state playoffs.

Callaway is going to finish third in Region 5-AA, and it will be on the road for the first round of the state playoffs.

“We have a very hard schedule,” Petite said. “It’s purposeful, and hopefully it’ll get us ready for down the road.”

Most of the teams Callaway has played are in higher classifications, including Chapel Hill.

“The plan is, the hope is, that by being in these situations they’ll be ready for the playoffs,” Petite said.

Callaway’s teams have road games against Mount Paran Christian on Friday before finishing their region schedules on April 6 at Haralson County.