CLINTON — Justin Gordon had been just out of reach all evening.
Whether it was Taylor Wise or Dylan Howard or Kase Kingery, no one could put just the right touch on a service to get the speedy Gordon behind the defense.
All the Starkville High School boys soccer team needed was a kiss from Price Day to send it on its way to history.
Gordon took a perfect pass from Day and finished like a champion to propel Starkville to a 1-0 victory against Pascagoula in the Mississippi High School Activities Association Class 5A state title match at Clinton High School.
“I thought (the goalkeeper) was going to come out and he didn’t,” Gordon said. “The ball skipped a little bit and I just kept my eyes on the ball. I just placed it a little bit to his left.”
Gordon’s goal with 5 minutes 13 seconds left in the first half allowed the Yellow Jackets (14-3) to win the school’s first championship in boys soccer.
It came on an evening when Starkville controlled much of the play on the turf field and played with poise, especially in the midfield and in the back.
Starkville High coach Brian Bennett thanked Mississippi State University for allowing his team to practice at the Palmeiro Center, a multi-sport indoor facility that has turf, earlier in the week so it could get a feel for the surface and how the ball would react. Rain earlier in the afternoon in Clinton, which delayed the start of the match one hour, 15 minutes, made the turf a little slicker, which made the ball skip away from players.
But Day, one of eight seniors, didn’t let the elements bother him. He said the two days the Yellow Jackets practiced on the turf at MSU gave him an idea how he had to hit the ball to connect with Gordon. Starkville needed more than a few tries, but Day dialed up just the right amount of touch to set the stage for the game-winner.
“It is completely different from playing on dry turf,” Day said. “We noticed it was skipping a lot and running real fast, so all I could think is you have to put just the right amount on it to get to him so he can beat these guys and get past the keeper. I tried to give it a light touch that I knew he could get to.
“It was just a little touch. He is the fastest guy we have. He is an outstanding player and an outstanding kid. For him to put it in the back of the net felt so good.”
Gordon also showed the patience of an elite goal scorer. Unable to track down four attempts to lead him to goal earlier in the half, Gordon stayed focused and used his speed to be the game-breaker. He edged past a defender and then connected on a well-struck ball as goalkeeper Gentry Barton came off his line in an attempt to cut down the angle.
Gordon said he didn’t look up at the goal before he took the shot but knew he had hit it solidly.
“I knew Price knew what the turf would do because it was wet and it skips,” Gordon said. “We practiced in the Palmeiro Center (at Mississippi State) on the turf for two days, and we kind of got a feel for it, so we knew what we had to do.”
Bennett praised his players for looking for one more pass to settle the rhythm and to find the best possible option. He was especially proud to get the victory for seniors Tomlinson, Marvin Hughes, Day, Addison Watson, Lewis Maynard, Austin Wileman, Gandy, and Kingery after years of being denied in Class 6A by Tupelo and by Clinton. Starkville’s current group of seniors lost to Clinton on the same field in the playoffs when they were freshmen.
“Kase and Dylan got the ball moved around to give us easy looks to go over the top,” Bennett said. “Justin and Price were wearing themselves out chasing them down and putting pressure, and Justin finally got that one.
“(The seniors) talked about redeeming themselves on this field, and they did it.”
The teams went back and forth trying to find a rhythm in the first half. Starkville had three of the four shots on goal. Gordon’s shot was the best of the bunch, as the team struggled to adjust to the turf field that made it difficult for either side to possess for long stretches.
Starkville held the better of the possession. It frequently used Kingery as a target in the midfield and tried to feed off him. Kingery controlled the tempo, often slowing it and sliding the ball to his left to Howard, who would then try to chip a ball ahead for Gordon or Juan Salazar to run on to.
Pascagoula’s only shot in the opening half was by Morgan Catchot with a little more than 10 minutes to play. It came following a giveaway by Starkville that went into the middle of the field.
That was one of few mistakes the Yellow Jackets made. Kingery said Starkville played relaxed and knew it had to look for the easy option and not try to do too much on the turf.
“We knew No. 10 (Mitchell Cecatiello) was their leading goal scorer and their main man,” Kingery said. “We knew that was who their play was going to come from, so we took away his options and we opened ourselves up, created triangles throughout the field and passed and moved and had one-two touches. I thought that opened up a lot of play.”
Watson also made a timely play coming off his line as goalkeeper when he was aggressive in coming out to collect a long throw-in and absorbed contact from an attacker on the player. A foul wasn’t called on the play.
In the second half, Tomlinson cleared a loose ball near the post after it appeared Watson deflected it but wasn’t able to corral it.
Starkville maintained its shape throughout the victory. Led by defenders Justin Gandy, Charlie Henderson, Tomlinson, and Austin Wileman, the Yellow Jackets limited opportunities by stepping up and clearing bounding balls before the Panthers could win 50-50 balls. Pascagoula had its best pressure off throw-ins from junior Adam Smith, but couldn’t register a shot on goal in the second half. Landry Lofton, who had two goals in the team’s South State title win, had several well-struck balls that went well wide of the frame. Late in the match, he swung his arm in frustration after missing on an attempt.
Starkville advanced to the championship game with victories against Center Hill (4-0), Oxford (4-2), and Hernando (3-1). Day scored two goals against Hernando in the North State title game Tuesday in Starkville.
Starkville lost to Tupelo in 2001 in its only other trip to the North State championship.
Pascagoula (20-5-1) advanced to Clinton thanks to a 4-2 victory against West Harrison. It was making its first appearance in the state title game since 2004 when it lost to Tupelo.
Adam Minichino is the former Sports Editor for The Commercial Dispatch.
You can help your community
Quality, in-depth journalism is essential to a healthy community. The Dispatch brings you the most complete reporting and insightful commentary in the Golden Triangle, but we need your help to continue our efforts. In the past week, our reporters have posted 32 articles to cdispatch.com. Please consider subscribing to our website for only $2.30 per week to help support local journalism and our community.