Heritage Academy knocks out St. Al in first round of MAIS soccer playoffs

Published 8:51 am Wednesday, February 17, 2016

A couple of well-placed and well-timed bullets put the dagger in St. Aloysius’ soccer season.

Logan Sneed, Michael Ledbetter and Lex Rogers each scored a goal, and Heritage Academy upset top-seeded St. Al 3-1 Tuesday in the opening round of the MAIS Division III playoffs.

The stunning defeat ended St. Al’s best season in more than a decade. The Flashes finished 12-1 after going through the regular season undefeated and earning the No. 1 seed in the North half of the bracket as well as homefield advantage throughout the playoffs.

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What looked like a perfect setup for a deep postseason run, however, turned into an early exit.

“It’s frustrating that my senior year ends here when we were doing so well. When it came down to the line, I guess we just didn’t do what we had to,” St. Al senior defender Lofton Varner said.

St. Al dominated possession and kept the ball on Heritage’s side of the field for most of the game, but only took 10 shots. The Patriots clamped down on St. Al once the ball got inside the 30-yard line and limited its quality scoring chances.

Senior goal keeper Jacob Swartz only had to make six saves.

“Their defense was keeping our offense from getting near the goal. We could get it down there, but they couldn’t put it in the back of the net,” Varner said. “They were really good at backing each other up. Whenever you would dribble around one, there was two more waiting for you on each side. And they were really good at reading our passes.”

Adding to the Flashes’ frustration was the fact that they were playing from behind nearly the whole game.

Sneed put Heritage ahead 1-0 in the fifth minute with a perfectly placed header off a corner kick. Sneed redirected the ball into the top left corner of the net, curving it past St. Al keeper Townsend Derivaux.

St. Al tied it in the 17th minute when Jack Dowe took a pass from Conner Bottin on a rush, dribbled through a couple of defenders, and tapped it past Swartz.

“Conner played me a good ball and then I just beat a couple of guys and put it in the back of the net,” Dowe said.

Heritage, however, regained the lead in the 31st minute with another perfectly placed shot. Ledbetter caught Derivaux flat-footed and beat him with a shot into the right upper corner for a 2-1 lead.

St. Al continued to control the pace in the second half, but also continued to have nothing to show for it. Casey Griffith sailed two shots high, and the best scoring chance in the 65th minute came up empty when Dowe’s cross right in front of an open goal passed harmlessly to the other side.

A couple of minutes later, after another failed St. Al rush, Heritage got the clincher. Rogers, dribbling up the right side on a counterattack, lured Derivaux out of position and beat him with a move in the field. Rogers then booted the ball into the open net for a 3-1 lead with less than 13 minutes to play.

St. Al had a couple of modest scoring chances in the final minutes, but not any serious threats.

“We played well. They just played better. That’s all there is to it,” Dowe said.

About Ernest Bowker

Ernest Bowker is The Vicksburg Post's sports editor. He has been a member of The Vicksburg Post's sports staff since 1998, making him one of the longest-tenured reporters in the paper's 140-year history. The New Jersey native is a graduate of LSU. In his career, he has won more than 50 awards from the Mississippi Press Association and Associated Press for his coverage of local sports in Vicksburg.

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