Bennett, Gators look to future|[2/7/05]

Published 12:00 am Monday, February 7, 2005

For the longest time, it was just plain hard for Jason Bennett to think of himself as the boys soccer coach of the Vicksburg Gators.

That changed Saturday for the former Warren Central soccer player. Bennett’s Gators made it to the Class 5A State Championship game on Saturday against Clinton at Millsaps’ Harper Davis Field.

Even though they fell to the more-balanced Arrows 2-0, Bennett is ecstatic about the future of Vicksburg High soccer.

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“I’m a Warren Central grad and it took a while for me thinking of being a Gator, but now, Warren Central is the past,” Bennett said after the final pictures had been taken following the presentation of the State 5A runner-up trophy.

“These guys have had a different coach, every year, for the past four or five years. But I can say now, that’ll change, because I’m in this for the long haul,” he said.

Clinton coach Jeff Long, who mentored Bennett at WC, said his former pupil made the right adjustments for Saturday’s final. The Arrows had beaten the Gators 3-0 in an early December match.

“Moving Coleman (Morrison) to sweeper was a great move on Jason’s part. He moved the speed up to the top and made you work the length of the field. He just did a wonderful job,” Long said.

Bennett readily admits the change saved the Gators season and helped snap the team out of a mid-season, six-game slump.

“I put Coleman in at sweeper and that was a change of position bringing him from mid-field to the back. Then we had Cameron Curtis come in at defender after an injury and those two guys played well,” Bennett said.

Yet it was one more move that came in the final regular season game against Pearl, that completed the Gators’ transformation into a playoff force.

Eighth grader Ryan Ferrington was moved to keeper. Ferrington held Pearl – a team that went on to win the 4A title on Saturday over St. Stanislaus – to just two goals.

Bennett kept him in goal for the next four playoff games, which included wins over Picayune, Pascagoula and Oak Grove.

“Ferrington is an excellent keeper. He plays aggressive,” said Morrison. In the final, Ferrington made 13 saves and kept Vicksburg in the game until the final minutes. “Ferrington is a great competitor and he’s here for four more years,” said VHS sophomore Michael Cooper, who led the team in goals scored. “People will have to watch out for Vicksburg, for sure.”