Park Place pushes past Porters Chapel

Published 2:11 am Friday, December 2, 2016

PEARL — Porters Chapel Academy struck first and struck fast. Park Place Christian struck a lot more often.

Connor Stewart scored two goals — both in a two-minute span in the first half after Porters Chapel had taken an early lead — and Adam Roberson scored three as Park Place beat the Eagles 5-2 on Thursday.

“I felt it was going to be a really close game. Closer than what it was,” PCA coach Thad Wade said. “I felt like our team had the better team, but Park Place played a great game. They moved the ball very well. They had us on our backs the whole night.”

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Porters Chapel (1-1) was playing only its second game of the season, and first since Nov. 7. Wade said the long layoff between games contributed to Thursday’s loss.

The Eagles play again next week at Hillcrest Christian and Indianola Academy, and then not again until Jan. 12 at River Oaks.

“We just don’t get a lot of practice time in, and with the Thanksgiving break we got a little winded. We’ve just got to get back at it, and get back in shape, and work at it a little bit more,” Wade said. “You can tell at practice, but you can really tell in the game.”

PCA got off to a fast start against Park Place. Cameron Harvey dribbled 20 yards through the defense and put a shot across the goal and inside the left post to give the Eagles a 1-0 lead in the seventh minute.
It didn’t last long.

Stewart scored the equalizer on a breakaway 90 seconds later, and then got another goal off a corner kick two minutes after that. Less than four minutes after Harvey had put the Eagles ahead, they were behind for good.

“I think our team thought they were about to win and got overconfident. They started messing around and playing like they weren’t supposed to, and I think that’s why we lost the game,” PCA senior forward Dillon Little said.

Roberson scored in the 31st minute to make it 3-1, and in the opening stages of the second half the Crusaders put the game away with an offensive surge and two more quick goals.
Roberson scored six minutes into the second half, and again in the 49th minute.

Porters Chapel got one back when Harvey scored on a penalty kick in the 53rd minute, but Park Place’s two quick flurries in each half put some distance between the teams in what was, statistically, a fairly close game.

Park Place had 16 shots, while PCA had 14.

“Our defense and our midfield wasn’t marking up like they were supposed to. Every time the other team got the ball, they all rushed in on the other player and I think that’s where we messed up the most,” Little 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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