Bryan County girls' soccer is for real. The Redskins are showing that making the Class A-DI state playoffs last year was not a fluke.

Coach Kristen Barnhill’s team established itself as a region championship contender Tuesday night when it went on the road and pulled off a 2-1 win over Claxton to move into a three-way tie for first-place in Region 3A-D1.

Sophomore Liz Harvey, who until a week ago was playing basketball, scored both Redskins goals in the first half and senior goalkeeper Skylar Lee made them stand up. The victory was Bryan County’s second win ever against the Tigers, the first coming in the initial meeting between the two in 2018. Claxton had won the seven subsequent games.

Harvey, a mainstay on last year’s team which earned the school’s first playoff berth since 2016, scored 11 minutes into the game with an assist from Haley Thomas. Two minutes later she made it 2-0 thanks to an assist from Addie Longino.

Bryan County (5-3-1, 3-1), Metter (5-2, 3-1) and Claxton (5-2-1, 3-1) all share first. Metter’s lone loss was to Claxton while the Redskins lost to Metter, 3-1, in two overtimes. The Redskins control their own destiny with three of their four remaining region games at home.

Bryan County faces Portal (4-0-1) at home at 5 p.m. Friday in a non-region game and then hosts Screven on Monday before playing at Woodville-Tompkins (0-4, 2-6) on Tuesday. The Redskins have rematches with Metter on March 22 and Claxton four days later.

Bryan County now finds itself in position to set a school record for wins in a season and to have its first ever winning season since first fielding a team in 2014. The 2016 team won six games.

The Redskins got their season off to a good start as the posted shutout wins over Liberty County (1-0) and Windsor Forest (6-0) sandwiched around a 2-2 tie at Portal. They then ran into buzz saws in losses to unbeaten East Laurens and once-beaten Long County.

East Laurens (10-0) is ranked No. 5 in the state in Class A-DI while Long County (8-1-1) is No. 10 in Class 3A. Portal is ranked No. 4 in Class A-DII.

“It was tough competition but we learned some lessons,” Barnhill said of the losses to East Laurens and Long County.

Bryan County opened region play against Woodville-Tompkins and won in a shootout. Regulation ended 0-0 but the Redskins won 2-1 in the shootout as Longino and Camryn Parker converted their PKs and Lee came up with a big save to preserve the win.

“I told the girls we would have lost that game last year,” Barnhill said. “We didn’t play a great game but ended up pulling it out. It shows our growth and grit as a team that we can win ugly.”

The Redskins then got a tremendous confidence boost when they pulled out a 1-0 win at Screven. It was their first ever win over the Gamecocks who have long been a force under veteran coach Terry Markovic who recently got his 200th win in his 41st year of coaching.

“That was a great game by our defense,” Barnhill said. “Amber Gray and Camryn jammed up the middle all night and Skylar had 10 saves in goal. Haley Thomas, Addie and Shae Coursey shut down their mids.”

Longino scored the game winner when she got fouled in the box after a corner kick. She fired the kick into goal with about 15 minutes left in the first half and Lee and the defense took over from there.

The Metter game, Barnhill said, was disappointing. After Harvey had scored late in the second half to tie it, 1-1, the Tigers scored twice in the final five minutes of the second overtime to get the win.

“We’re dealing with some injuries and to be competitive with a good Metter team is a small silver lining,” Barnhill said. “I think we need to be a little more mentally tough at times and push through the wall.”

The Redskins showed Tuesday night at Claxton they may be getting the coach’s message as they head down the home stretch.

“Our region is extremely tight,” Barnhill said. “As we get used to a new formation and get people back from injuries, I’m optimistic we can make a second straight trip to the playoffs.”