STARKVILLE — There is a fine line between being persistent and being annoying.
When you’re a forward, that’s exactly the balance you hope to find every match — just as long as the one you’re annoying isn’t your coach.
That’s why you’ll have to excuse Jamison McKee for being a little too anxious Thursday afternoon in the Starkville Academy boys soccer team’s match against Heritage Academy.
Like any speedy forward, McKee wanted to get the jump on the defense. The only problem was the senior was a step too quick not once, not twice, but three times on potential scoring opportunities in the first half. Unfortunately, McKee’s overanxiousness resulted in three offsides penalties on the Volunteers.
The last one elicited a reaction from Starkville Academy boys soccer coach Cole Andrews that could be heard across the field at the Starkville Sportsplex.
“Every time,” Andrews said when asked what he said after McKee was whistled for offsides for the final time in the first half. “All of those guys have such tremendous speed that we have to work anticipating passes coming from the midfield or elsewhere because we get caught ball watching and then all of a sudden Jamison takes off and he is in an offsides position or he is coming from an offsides position.”
But credit McKee for continuing to chase the action. His willingness to attack the defense on every ball paid off in a big way Thursday, as he scored three goals to lead Starkville Academy to a 3-0 victory.
The win helped the Volunteers (2-1) avenge a 1-0 loss to the Patriots last month. McKee played only about two minutes in that match due to a sprained ankle. He showed no ill effects from that injury, using his speed to terrorize Heritage Academy’s back line with runs from nearly every angle.
“You don’t give up,” McKee said. “You have to get better as you go on. You can’t keep doing the same mistake. You have to learn from the first offsides.”
It’s not that McKee didn’t follow his advice. It’s just that he was a little too fast for his own good. It didn’t help that the Patriots did everything they could to put McKee in an offsides position.
On the third offsides, Andrews had seen enough. Given that McKee scored three goals against Magnolia Heights in a match earlier this season, Andrews knows he can put the ball in the back of the net. That’s why he said it was frustrating to watch McKee struggle to hold himself back.
It didn’t help that Heritage Academy was trying everything to put him in an offsides position.
Even though McKee tried to follow his thinking, his speed did him in and put him in offsides positions multiple times. That’s where the persistence came in. McKee admitted hearing Andrews’ “really, really loud and piercing” shout from the sidelines.
“I just ignored it and I got better as the game went on,” McKee said.”
Undaunted, McKee continued to make those runs into the final minute of the first half before it finally paid off. Chasing a lead pass from Jack Burton, made a beeline for goalkeeper Quint Lemmers. When Lemmers couldn’t handle the bouncing ball, McKee kept on coming and tucked it home for what proved to be the winning goal.
“I kept getting caught behind the defense, but they were strategizing to keep me offsides,” McKee said. “I was just following up to the ball after other shots and just watching the other defenders and staying onsides so I didn’t run behind them. It got better as the game went on.”
McKee tacked on two more goals in the second half. He called the second goal “the greatest goal” he has scored this season. Burton initiated the action by sizing up a chance to head the ball forward and getting his body behind the pass. McKee did the rest, speeding past the defense into the attacking third. With Lemmers coming off his line in an attempt to knock the ball away, McKee deftly touched the ball to the right past a sliding Lemmers into open space. He slid the ball into the open net for an insurance goal.
“It didn’t necessarily have to go as far as it did,” McKee said. “He needed to push it in that direction, and he did a wonderful job putting it in that direction and letting me have that goal.”
McKee said he didn’t have time to think about his options and reacted to the situation. He said after the game he didn’t even remember moving past Lemmers and scoring.
Andrews did, though, and credited McKee, Burton, Dalton Dempsey, and Layton Little for their hard work up top in helping the Volunteers dictate the tempo.
“As you saw, once the ball gets to him we really have a lot of attacking power,” Andrews said. ”
McKee closed the hat trick by collecting a rebound off a shot by Jake Goodwin and driving a left-footed shot home to account for the final margin.
Andrews said the second and third goals were direct results from the team’s situational work when players don’t have a lot of time to think about their options. The key is reacting to the predicament as quickly as possible and letting your skills take over.
If Thursday is any indication, McKee is shining in those drills.
“He spent a lot of time in the offseason working on that,” Andrews said. “His sophomore year, he might have had 14 goals. Last year, he had single digits, so he was very disappointed with himself. He spent a lot of time working on getting confident in the front of the net and being able to place it in the side net. He has a lot of control. He has definitely improved.”
Follow Dispatch sports editor Adam Minichino on Twitter @ctsportseditor.
Adam Minichino is the former Sports Editor for The Commercial Dispatch.
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