[11/30/04]Last season, Madison Central pummeled Vicksburg High 7-0.

This is not last year, though, and these are not the Gators of old.

Dallas Waggener scored a goal midway through the second half to lift the Jaguars (7-1) to a 2-1 win over the upstart Gators (5-3). The win snapped Vicksburg’s five-game winning streak.

“They are dramatically improved from last year,” Madison coach Thomas Gardner said. “They are definitely headed in the right direction and not someone I want to see in the playoffs.”

Vicksburg held a 1-0 lead at the end of the first half thanks to a goal by Cameron Curtis on an assist from Michael Cooper.

Eric Holland, who was starting in goal for the Gators, made five saves in the first half to keep the third-ranked Jaguars at bay.

“Sometimes in the second half you start to get a little tired and don’t stay with your man,” Vicksburg coach Jason Bennett said. “Sometimes they’ll send an extra guy up and we won’t talk well enough to get them covered.”

Jessie Holder scored within the first two minutes of the second half to knot the game at 1. The two teams played to a stalemate for the next 18 minutes until Waggener burst up the field, took a perfect pass and drilled a shot past VHS goalie Jay Griffing for a 2-1 lead.

“We created a lot more chances in the second half,” Gardner said. “We were able to put the ones away that we did.”

Vicksburg had sporadic chances to tie the game in the final 20 minutes, but most of the action was played in the Gators’ end.

Despite the loss, the Gators made sure teams would not look at them as pushovers any more.

“I’d like to think it’s a combination of all of us our players, coaches and assistants,” Bennett said. “Now we have to keep plugging along.”

(G) MC 3, Vicksburg 0

Second-ranked Madison Central took a 3-0 lead into halftime and cruised through the second half for a shutout win.

Vicksburg attempted only one shot in the game.

“We may have been a little intimidated, I don’t know what,” Vicksburg (4-2-1) coach Kevin Manton said.

The Gators are scheduled to play at Murrah today at 5:30 p.m.