PEARL — The Vicksburg Missy Gators were slow coming out of the gate Friday night, and by the time they’d stabilized the situation it was far too late to salvage a victory.

Pearl scored three goals in the first eight minutes, added two more by halftime, and rolled over the Missy Gators 7-1.

Anna Crane scored twice and had an assist for Pearl (12-6), while five other players had a goal apiece.

“We started out really lackadaisical, acting like we didn’t want to come down and play. Near about the 15-minute mark we got our act together and acted like we actually wanted to be out there and played,” Vicksburg coach Haley Aisnworth said. “That’s unusual for us to lose 7-0, even to a good team like Pearl.”

Pearl peppered the goal all night long, outshooting the Missy Gators 20-1 in the game. It took 16 shots in the first half, including eight in the first 15 minutes.

Morgan Smithhart started the scoring by knocking in a rebound goal in the third minute, and Daniella Avelar put another one in the net two minutes later. In the eighth minute, Crane fed Nicole Roa with a cross right in front of the net and Roa scored easily to make it 3-0.

“It’s really hard to come back from that, especially against a team like Pearl. They’re good. It’s hard to come back from 1-0 in a normal soccer game, let alone 4-0 in a game like this,” Ainsworth said.

Crane scored in the 29th and 37th minutes to give Pearl a 5-0 lead at halftime. In the second half, Cariel Ellis and Heather Sullivan added goals for the Lady Pirates. Mikayla Banks finally put Vicksburg (4-7) on the board in the 75th minute.

The Missy Gators will now go to Ridgeland on Tuesday night with a chance to win the Division 4-5A championship. They lost to Ridgeland in a shootout last Tuesday, and need to win by two goals to take the division title and earn a home game in the first round of the Class 5A playoffs.

“They know what they’ve got to do to win. This past Tuesday should have been a ‘W’ anyway. We can go up there and we can get a win. It’s just if we go up there and play like we can,” Ainsworth said.

(B) Pearl 7, Vicksburg 0

Vicksburg improved upon an earlier showing with Pearl (12-4-1), but still lost for the eighth straight game. Pearl had beaten the Gators 12-0 in the season opener in November.

(G) Warren Central 4, Murrah 0

Senior Drew Barnes scored two goals to lead Warren Central (8-5-1, 2-1 Division 4-6A) past Murrah and into the Class 6A playoffs.

The Lady Vikes also got goals from Macy Claire Joseph and Lauren Summerlin. Warren Central clinched the No. 2 seed from Division 4-6A and will open the playoffs on the road Jan. 26 at the Division 2-6A champion, which will be either Tupelo or Hernando.

(B) Warren Central 8, Murrah 0

Braylen Greer scored two goals and assisted on four more to lead Warren Central to an easy win over Murrah on Friday night.

Nick Wright also scored two goals for the Vikings, while Max Wamsley had a goal and two assists and Sean Dixon had a goal and an assist. Hank Holdiness and Theodor Stang also had a goal apiece.

The Vikings outshot Murrah 30-0.

Warren Central (14-3-1, 2-1 Division 4-6A) clinched a playoff berth with the victory. It’ll face the Division 2-6A champion, most likely Tupelo, on the road in a first-round game on Jan. 26.