[02/01/02]As the St. Aloysius Flashes continue their hunt for a state title, they’re being stalked themselves.

For the past few weeks, an unseen foe has watched and studied their every move, looking for a weakness to exploit. He’s recruited allies to help him take the Flashes down, and Saturday at high noon, he’ll finally make his presence felt.

“I’ve been keeping up with them the last few weeks. I’ve had some spies out,” Amory coach Michael McClung said with a laugh.

McClung will lead his Class 3A Panthers (15-2-1) against 1A St. Al (15-2) in a second-round Class 1A-2A-3A playoff game Saturday at Amory. The winner moves on to the North State title game Tuesday at Pearl, while the loser goes home disappointed.

“As far as the type of teams we’ve played this year, we’ve played some strong teams and done well. And when we go to play Amory, I think this is another strong team,” St. Al coach Shirley Agostinelli said.

When the playoff brackets were first released and a second-round matchup with St. Al became a possibility, McClung went to work.

He started reading newspaper articles about the Flashes and asked some former Amory residents who now live in Vicksburg to scout St. Al games. Some of his recruits even videotaped St. Al’s first-round win over Cleveland on Tuesday.

“I’ve had people come to watch games, tape games. I’ve got some people who live in Vicksburg who have helped,” McClung said. “It’s all part of the game.”

Agostinelli, meanwhile, has done little scouting for the game. She put in a phone call to one of her former players, Taylor Jabour, who is now a student teacher and assistant coach at Oxford which handed Amory one of its only two losses this season but said it wasn’t much help.

“(Jabour) didn’t give me too much,” Agostinelli said. “You can find out all you want about a team, but when you get out on that field, that’s going to tell the story.”

Other than their dedication to scouting, St. Al and Amory seem to be very similar ballclubs.

Both are experienced Amory has nine senior starters, while St. Al has five, plus several other players who have been starters for more than season.

Both teams are balanced and have more than one scoring threat. St. Al has three players with more than 10 goals this season, led by Michael Head with 30. Amory is led by Alston Parker, who has 29 goals, and Kyle Yates, with 21.

Both teams also have injured starters. McClung said Yates may miss the game with a pulled hamstring, while St. Al defender Michael Engle hurt his left knee against Cleveland and has been limited in practice this week.

“That’s why I believe this is going to be one good game,” McClung said. “My kids are pumped up for it.”

Although the teams appear even on the field, Amory may have a huge advantage from hosting the game early in the day. It’s about a 5-hour bus ride from Vicksburg to Amory, and the Flashes will roll out in a chartered bus around 6:30 a.m.

“That’s going to be one plus in our favor,” McClung said. “A 41/2-, 51/2-hour drive on a bus, I know I wouldn’t want to make it.”

The game was originally scheduled for 11 a.m., but St. Al Principal Alan Powers was able to get Amory officials to move it back an hour to allow more time for the Flashes to travel.

Amory is also hosting St. Andrew’s in a girls’ playoff game Saturday and there is a school function that night, so Powers was unable to convince Amory officials to push it back any further.

“If it was a 2 o’clock or 3 o’clock ballgame, I think that would have been easier on us. A long bus ride is not good for the legs,” Agostinelli said.

St. Al’s players weren’t looking forward to getting up so early on a Saturday, but said the trip wouldn’t be a factor.

“It shouldn’t be too bad. We get up at 6:30 every day to go to school,” senior stopper Blake Warnock said.