Angelus Blanks Arsenal 3-0

Forrest Wimberly
Jun 9
3 min read

NATIONAL SOCCER NEWS: www.nationalsoccernetwork.com

It was a Clayton Adams’ brace and a third goal by Luke Rainey to lift visiting Angelus FC over the Augusta Arsenal in the UPSL Premier Georgia South season finale for both clubs Sunday night in Augusta.

Augusta Arsenal was looking to improve their form entering the playoffs while Angelus was playing for pride to close out the Spring 2026 season.

Arsenal looked disconnected and out of rhythm all match long and it was this lack of defensive coordination that led to the first goal for Angelus. Former professional player Clayton Adams opened the scoring for Angelus in the 12th minute, as he made something out of nothing by taking a quick, long-range shot from well outside the area. The former Austin Bold and South Georgia Tormenta attacker unleashed a thunderous shot that fooled the Arsenal keeper as the ball rocketed into the near post past the flat-footed Arsenal defense.

Arsenal tried to generate some attack from some set pieces but just never found any comfort on the ball or sting in their shots that just harmlessly went over the bar or weakly rolled to the Angelus keeper’s collection. With Angelus up 1-0 at the half, Arsenal did force some defensive work out of the Angelus back line, but the visitors would bend-but-not-break on several occasions. Goalkeeper Blaine Black was in complete control of his area and never seemed threatened during the match earning the shutout win for Angelus.

In the 55th minute, Angelus worked under heavy pressure to keep the ball in play and dig the ball out of the right attacking corner of the field. All this work in the corner paid off as a final, simple square ball was played into the feet of Adams, who had drifted unnoticed into a pocket of space at the top of the Arsenal area. Adams collected the ball, adjusted his feet, and rocketed his second goal of the match into the near post through the porous Arsenal defensive block.

Just minutes later, Adams goes on a marauding solo dribble up the left flank eating up ground driving from the midfield all the way to the top of the Arsenal box where he was fouled. The resulting free kick by Adams was just inches away from his hat trick as it rang off the far post, keeping the score 2-0 Angelus.

More midfield spaces opened up in the Arsenal block after the 70th minute and Angelus worked the ball at will around the field looking to find the speedy Adams or forward Luke Rainey in the Angelus attack. Adams went on another run in the 85th minute, driving into the box and blasting the ball off the body of the Arsenal keeper who couldn’t react in time to get his hands to the ball. All this space and pressure paid off again for Angelus in the 88th as a quick passing sequence ran the ball from left to right across the Arsenal area to find Rainey all alone at the back post, where he again buried an Angelus goal into the near post; 3-0 Angelus.

Both teams closed out the match and Angelus FC ends their season on a two-match winning streak in sixth place in the conference, just three points out of a playoff spot. Augusta Arsenal was locked into fourth place entering the season finale and now enters their first postseason with a road match at top seed Kalonji Pro-Profile. The playoff match will be on June 13 at Shiloh High School. Kickoff is at 7:30 PM.