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Warren Central soccer players Addi Mullen (13) and Mary Clell Allred (2) celebrate after Mullen scored a goal in the second half of Saturday's 6-0 playoff win over Neshoba Central. (Ernest Bowker/The Vicksburg Post)

Warren Central's Sydney Hern does a throw-in during Saturday's MHSAA Class 6A girls soccer playoff game against Neshoba Central. (Ernest Bowker/The Vicksburg Post)

Warren Central's Mary Clell Allred (2) plays the ball in front of a Neshoba Central defender during Saturday's MHSAA Class 6A girls soccer playoff game. (Ernest Bowker/The Vicksburg Post)

Warren Central's Brooke Steed dribbles the ball past Neshoba Central's Halle Copeland during Saturday's MHSAA Class 6A girls soccer playoff game. (Ernest Bowker/The Vicksburg Post)

Warren Central's Laney Bull (7) kicks the ball during Saturday's MHSAA Class 6A girls soccer playoff game against Neshoba Central. (Ernest Bowker/The Vicksburg Post)

Warren Central's Jordan Polk (3) plays the ball against Neshoba Central during Saturday's MHSAA Class 6A soccer playoff game. (Ernest Bowker/The Vicksburg Post)

Warren Central soccer players celebrate after scoring a goal in the second half of Saturday's 6-0 playoff win over Neshoba Central. (Ernest Bowker/The Vicksburg Post)

Warren Central's Brooke Steed (8) tries to get past Neshoba Central's Breeanna Winstead (11) during Saturday's MHSAA Class 6A girls soccer playoff game. (Ernest Bowker/The Vicksburg Post)

Warren Central's Addi Mullen (13) collides with a Neshoba Central defender as they fight for possession of the ball during Saturday's MHSAA Class 6A girls soccer playoff game. (Ernest Bowker/The Vicksburg Post)

The game that Warren Central has been waiting for and working toward for a full year is finally next on the schedule.

Melissa Herrle and Addi Mullen each scored two goals, and the Lady Vikes dispatched Neshoba Central 6-0 in the second round of the MHSAA Class 6A girls’ soccer playoffs on Saturday.

Warren Central (18-5-1) advanced to the Class 6A North State championship game for the second year in a row, and will face Saltillo (20-1-1). Saltillo beat Warren Central 7-0 in the semifinals last year, on the way to its second consecutive state title.

“I’m excited for it mostly because last year when we got up there we had three or four girls sick, we had two major injuries within the first 15 minutes, and we did not get to show our best selves,” Warren Central coach Jeremy Lawrence said. “Now we’re going to be at home, with our advantage, with our turf, everybody seems to be healthy. It just seems to be different. The odds, I feel like, are a little more in our favor than they were last time and I’m excited about it.”

The rematch with Saltillo will be at Warren Central’s Viking Stadium and is tentatively scheduled for Tuesday. Rain and thunderstorms are in the forecast for both Tuesday and Wednesday, however, so Lawrence said the game is likely to be moved. A decision on the exact day and time will be made Sunday.

Warren Central’s boys will also host the North State championship game against Center Hill.

The Class 6A championship games are next Saturday, Feb. 15, at 4 p.m. (girls) and 6 p.m. (boys) at Germantown High School in Gluckstadt.

“We’re a little bit worried about how that’s going to play out. We’re going to have to either play it early on Monday or late on Thursday. Either way it doesn’t leave us much rest,” Lawrence said. “So right now it’s all about finding our touches, getting our energy levels up, recovering, and then hoping we can perform the same way.”

That would be at the same high level as their first two playoff games. After beating South Panola 6-1 in the first round, the Lady Vikes took control early against Neshoba Central and things well in hand by halftime.

Jordan Polk broke the ice early with a penalty kick goal in the seventh minute, and then took a corner kick that Herrle knocked in for a 2-0 lead in the 18th.

In the 38th minute, Laney Bull sent what looked like a normal pass to Herrle. Herrle lofted a high chip shot from 35 yards out that Neshoba keeper Ely Kilgore couldn’t get to, and it dropped into the net to make it 3-0.

Mullen scored twice in the second half, both off assists from Mary Clell Allred, and Bull got another goal off an assist from Evella Fairley to add a few exclamation points.

“I think that penalty kick took all the wind out of (Neshoba’s) sails,” Lawrence said. “They started off really good. It was only seven minutes into the game, but that’s all it took. You could just watch their energy levels drop.”

Warren Central took 15 shots to only one for Neshoba Central. One of the Lady Rockets’ few offensive chances also ended in a sequence that sealed their fate.

In the 42nd minute, Madelyn Collins took a shot that was saved by WC’s Hayleigh Simmons. Collins then ran hard into the keeper and was issued a hard red card for the foul. The red card resulted in her ejection and forced Neshoba Central to play almost the entire second half short-handed, with only 10 players.

“I hate it for them, but it’s one of those things that any time the keeper has the ball in her possession and the girl makes contact that’s not just running in because they can’t stop fast enough, they’re going to get a red card,” Lawrence said.

The Lady Vikes largely idled on offense in the second half, until the goals by Mullen and Bull that all came in the last 19 minutes. Lawrence said that was a mix of both the momentum of the game and the weather. A brisk wind that affected passing was in their face for the second half.

“It just kind of worked out that way. Going into the wind, any time the ball is in the air we’re going to struggle with it, so we had to keep it low,” Lawrence said. “We couldn’t play the ground game the way we usually do. We had to make some adjustments. Once they finally started seeing it was clicking, it was good.”

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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