Greg Carroll of Warren Central celebrates after his game-winning goal as Vicksburg’s Victor Parker and Stephen Sills, background, react. Carroll’s header gave the Vikings a 2-1 victory about four minutes into extra time in Thursday night’s game at Viking Field. The Missy Gators beat WC, 3-1.(The Vicksburg Paper/C. TODD SHERMAN)

[12/6/01]An exciting finish to the Vicksburg-Warren Central game took a back seat to an on-field melee that left one VHS player with a broken nose and four ejections.

Greg Carroll scored a goal on a backward header about four minutes into extra time on an assist from Chris Brock to lift the Vikings (4-4) to a 2-1 non-division win over Vicksburg (4-3-1) Thursday night.

It was 14 minutes before that, though, when emotions erupted.

With the game tied 1-1 with 10 minutes to play, WC’s Chris Grafton, a Brandon High transfer, pulled down Vicksburg senior Justin Jones by the neck, breaking Jones’ nose.

Russell Morrison, Jones’ teammate, then pushed Grafton resulting in red cards for all three players which sent them out of the game.

“They know what buttons to push, and that’s what makes me so ticked off,” VHS coach Josh Harper said. “Why do we keep on letting them push our buttons? We know it’s going to happen.

“My point is, why is there fighting in soccer and taking off shirts when there’s not in any other sport? I don’t understand it. This is a high school game.”

Seven minutes later, WC’s Barrett Burnworth got into a scuffle with Jeremy Johnson inside the scoring box, sending Burnworth off with a red card and setting up the Gators with a possible go-ahead penalty kick.

Victor Parker, who was playing his second game since the football season ended, sailed his shot over the crossbar keeping the game knotted at 1-all.

“I was trying to go power corner and just miss-hit it,” Parker said. “As soon as I hit it, I knew it was no good. This loss is on me.”

Amidst the hoopla surrounding the red cards, Harper did not get Kiger Sigh into the right position to take the penalty kick.

“That was my fault. Things got out of hand and we didn’t get Kiger in the right spot,” Harper said. “There’s no timeouts to get things organized with all that other stuff going on.”

After Parker missed the shot, he and WC’s Hunt Gilliland each received yellow cards after another scuffle ensued.

“I take full responsibility for all this. I don’t know what happened,” WC coach Jay Harrison said. “Vicksburg’s team remained calm and one of my guys wants to retaliate after a foul and that is something I am not proud of.

“I’ve been here three years and that was something I tried to curb and I thought I did a good job.”

Both coaches met with Vicksburg-Warren athletic director Lum Wright Jr. after the game and both said they do not expect sanctions against either team.

“I am not proud of the way this game ended,” Harrison said. “A win is a win, but that kind of stuff is just not part of this game.”

Because of the melees, about five minutes of extra time was added to the game, setting up Carroll’s game-winner.

Brock had a throw-in from the sideline and Carroll was supposed to flick the ball to Zach Richards, but he headed it into the goal instead.

“He’s supposed to run up as far as I can throw it and flick it to someone in the box,” Brock said. “He miss-hit it into the goal. I’m proud of what he did.”

The Gators had a few chances after that, but two shots sailed wide. Sigh kept the Gators alive after goalie Sean McGowan came out of the net to challenge an offensive player. Sigh kicked out a would-be goal inches from the line.

The game ended soon after.

“The younger guys on this team played great,” Parker said. “The seniors can’t ask them to play any better, but the upperclassmen have to step up.

WC took a 1-0 lead 15 minutes into the game when Carroll assisted Brock on a goal that hit McGowan’s hand and dribbled into the back of the net. The Vikings hit the post on would-be goals three times in the first half.

The lead stood until eighth-grader Coleman Morrison beat sophomore goalie Luke Sellers in the left corner of the goal to tie the game 1-1.

In a game two years ago between Vicksburg and St. Aloysius, a fight broke out resulting in the two not playing each other in soccer.

(G) VHS 3, WC 1

Vicksburg fell behind 1-0 early in the first half, then reeled off three straight goals two by Holly Head to improve to 7-1.

WC’s Hayley Martin scored on a one-on-one with goalkeeper Viola Howard for the quick lead, but four minutes later, Head scored on an assist from Neely Nasif to tie the game 1-1.

With less than six minutes to play in the first half, sophomore Brandi Parker juked a defender, then beat WC goalie Courtney Hubert for a 2-1 lead, one the defending state champion Missy Gators did not relinquish.

“Our defense was getting beat by them because they have so much speed,” said WC coach Holly Lane, whose team fell to 3-2-2.

Head added the game-clincher with two minutes to play in the second half.