Missy Gators have eyes on the prize|Prep soccer

Published 12:00 am Monday, January 26, 2009

On a muddy field at Pearl High School last January, Vicksburg High coach Kevin Manton assembled his team for a postgame talk.

Prep soccer playoffs

Monday, Jan. 26

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5 p.m. – (G) Vicksburg

at Center Hill

Tuesday, Jan. 27

4 p.m. – (G) WC at Tupelo

6 p.m. – (B) WC at Tupelo

The Missy Gators had just been eliminated from playoff contention, and were in the final days of a dismal 4-12 season. Manton told them they simply weren’t good enough to compete for any kind of championship and needed to work harder in the offseason to get to that level. It was part frustration and part honest assessment.

This January, there hasn’t been a need for that kind of talk. Whether the message got through, or whether the team simply improved as it grew older and gelled, is unclear, but happy days are here again for the Missy Gators (13-8). They’ve won five of their last six games heading into today’s Class 4A playoff opener at Center Hill, and are openly considering the possibility of adding a sixth state championship trophy to their collection in a couple of weeks.

“I can’t answer it,” Manton said when asked for the reasons behind the turnaround. “It’s the same team minus one. They like each other, get along, and complement each other with how they play.”

Vicksburg’s players are also at a loss to explain it. The team found its groove on offense after the holiday break, scoring 21 goals in their last five games. Seventeen of those were against overmatched Cathedral and Forest Hill squads, but it still helped the Missy Gators get some confidence heading into the postseason.

“We’re passing a lot better. We couldn’t get the ball to anybody before. Now we can get it to everybody. Everybody is where they’re supposed to be,” senior forward Becky Wilson said.

The late-season surge has Vicksburg confident it can stick around a while in the playoffs, and eventually earn a rematch with Pearl for a trip to the state finals. Pearl beat Vicksburg twice in the  regular season to win the Division 4-4A championship.

“I don’t see anybody challenging either one of us. That I know of,” Manton said.

While the Missy Gators are looking ahead a bit, Warren Central’s teams aren’t looking beyond Tuesday. That’s when they’ll make the long trip to Tupelo for first-round Class 5A playoff games on both the girls’ and boys’ side.

For the Vikings, a victory would shock the Mississippi soccer world. The young team has battled through a series of injuries to go 8-8-1 this season, and will be facing an always-tough Tupelo squad that won the 2007 Class 5A title, its division this season, and boasts a top-5 state ranking.

“We’re definitely the underdogs. And most of our players are hurt,” said WC forward Erik Chappell, who leads the team with 15 goals. “We’re going to try. But we really have to step up if we want to compete with them.”

Warren Central coach Greg Head said it would be vital for his team to play a low-scoring game to have a chance. Falling behind early, or giving up more than one or two goals, would put the Vikings in a tough spot.

“We’re going to have to keep the score low,” Head said. “We may even drop into a prevent defense, because that seems to work well for us.”

Warren Central’s girls are more optimistic. In a shortened game at the Brooke Welch Tournament in Ridgeland in December, they played Tupelo to a scoreless tie before losing in a shootout. Tupelo has also struggled down the stretch, going 0-3-1 in its last four games.

Having already seen Tupelo, and having had some success against them, will help, Lady Vikes (7-8-3) coach Janet McMaster said.

“We showed we can hold our own against them,” she said. “I truly have confidence. We do have a very strong opportunity to do it.”

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Contact Ernest Bowker at ebowker@vicksburgpost.com.