STARKVILLE — There was no margin for error as Heritage Academy goalkeeper Garrison Reedy reached for the ball in stoppage time on Monday. The freshman had kept the Volunteers out of the net just seconds earlier, but the rebound presented another opportunity for Starkville Academy to force extra time in the dying minutes.
That’s something he was weak with last year,” Heritage head coach Jacob Hunt said, “but this is stuff we see and we work on. It paid off.”
Reedy made the fingertip save to deny an equalizer, the Vols’ last chance on target. The Patriots won 2-1 in Starkville and secured their place in the MAIS Division II state championship game on Thursday.
Max Ledbetter scored both goals for Heritage, making it six goals in two playoff games for the forward. He’s been the one with the finishing touch in a team that continues to create and score in bunches.
“They’ve played for so long together and built that chemistry,” Hunt said of his team. “What they’ve been able to do this year is build that resilience. They’ve been scored on, but came back and won. They’ve gone up two, give one up, and finished strong. They’ve had calls not go their way and battled through. They’re so tough mentally and they didn’t just wake up and have that. They went from winning one game their first season, the second season winning 10, and now we’re going to the state championship.”
On the other sideline, Starkville Academy’s journey ended. A similarly talented team with a balance of youth and experience, the Vols mounted a ferocious comeback effort after being stunned by two goals on either side of halftime.
Nathan Miller stood out, moving up the pitch into a midfield role when the Vols needed a goal. He created for his teammates and took his own opportunities, scoring a spectacular half-volley strike with a defender closing down on him at the top of the box. It gave his team life when they desperately needed it, but a stout Patriots defense managed to hold them off.
“Nathan is a baller,” Vols head coach William Wells said. “You can put him anywhere and he can play any position. I knew there’d come a time when we need him up top more instead of defense. It was time, he came up and got the goal, I thought we could get another by moving him up, and we just got unlucky.”
The Patriots will face East Rankin at 4:30 p.m. Thursday at Jackson Academy. The game is the culmination of years of work for the team and Hunt during his time at the school, and he was emotional when conveying the growth he’s seen from his players to reach this point where they’re just 80 minutes away from accomplishing their mission.
“They’re a tough team,” Hunt said of the Vols. “I coached most of those boys, I know what they’re capable of and what they can do. They came in a bit hungrier than last time, especially because it’s their home turf, but we said from the beginning of the season our goal is to get to the state championship and win it. We came in second in the district, after the win over them we gave one up at Lamar. After that, we locked in and said that’s not happening again. We earned it, we respected them, we came and fought and were able to execute.”
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