End of the line: Gators fall to Clinton in bid for first title|[2/6/05]
Published 12:00 am Monday, February 7, 2005
JACKSON – Lining up for their final team picture, the emotion on Jason Bennett’s face told the story of Saturday’s 5A Boys Soccer championship game.
Tears were on his face, but inside, he couldn’t have been prouder of the heart showed by his Cinderalla-like Vicksburg Gators.
Coming into the 5A final unranked, no one expected the Gators to be here. Especially not after a mid-season slump that saw them drop six straight games, starting with a loss to Clinton.
But the Gators were here on Saturday at Millsaps’ Harper Davis Field, again battling the Clinton Arrows in an 80-minute defensive slugfest for the 5A title.
Clinton was victorious again, but the 2-0 win was nothing like the first time. This one was much more difficult.
“Vicksburg was a totally different team,” said Clinton coach Jeff Long who, ironically, coached Bennett as a player at Warren Central. “When I was an assistant at Warren Central, he played for me. I knew he’d be a super coach because he puts his heart and soul into it so much and his team responds in the same way.”
Vicksburg showed that heart against Clinton (16-5-3), especially on the defensive end. The Arrows fired 21 shots at the VHS goal but only two found the net.
Eighth grade keeper Ryan Ferrington played beyond his years, making 13 saves. Sweeper Coleman Morrison was equally strong in stopping three shots, while J.R. Brown, Cameron Curtis and Tyler Dement had a save each.
Clinton, however, was able to mix a stout defense with a good countering offense to keep VHS at bay.
“Clinton was always first to the ball. Too many times we didn’t get to the ball,” said Bennett, who led the Gators (14-10-2) to their first-ever state final. “My defense stepped up. It’s been the reason why we are here. When I put Coleman in at sweeper and put Cameron in the back we went 8-3-1 and made it to the state championship game.”
Long knows the value of a good defense. His Arrows did not allow a single goal in four straight playoff wins.
“If they can’t score, we can’t lose,” he said. “It starts with our keeper in Michael Goodlett who I think is the best goalkeeper in the state. Then we have Michael Pardue who is so athletic at sweeper.”
The Arrow pair helped neutralize the offensive game of speedy Gator senior Michael Cooper.
“They shut Cooper down,” Bennett said. “We just had a hard time trying to counter them. That’s something we need to get better at in being able to push the ball on them.”
Vicksburg had just six shots on goal. Goodlett was credited with four saves.
Clinton was the aggressor from the start, getting two quick shots in the opening few minutes. They then followed up with the game’s first goal at the 5:21 mark of the first half.
Junior mid-fielder Brett DiBiase split a pair of defenders and was able to get face up against Ferrington. The 15-yard shot was stopped by the eighth grader but he couldn’t control the carom.
That went right to Clinton’s Omanuwa Adah, who put the rebound in the net for a 1-0 lead.
Clinton looked set to add to its lead, but nine times the Gators turned away shots. One big save came from Brown, who dove across the net to knock a shot away following an Arrow direct kick.
With 6:20 to go in the half, VHS got its best chance at a tying goal. John Howard was able to break loose for one of the few times in the game and sent a pass to the far right side to Cooper. Cooper swung hard at the ball, but it hit the front post and stayed wide.
“That was our best chance, right there,” Cooper said. “At least we tried. Clinton just did a better job of countering than we did.”
Vicksburg mounted some pressure four minutes deep into the second half, following a yellow card on an Arrow player.
Cameron Curtis took the penalty kick and the rebound header by Cooper just missed, hitting the high bar. Two more corners followed but both were turned away. The Gators didn’t get another good shot the rest of the way.
Clinton resumed its attack on the Gator goal. Eight shots were turned back, including one at point blank range by Ferrington on a low-liner from Clinton’s Brett Prather.
Finally, the ice cracked when Lance Barksdale caught enough of the ball on a direct kick to back it in past Ferrington with 4:56 left.