A spirited effort in a lopsided loss two weeks ago paid big dividends for the Vicksburg Gators on Wednesday.

The Gators qualified for the Class 5A playoffs as the No. 2 seed from Division 4-5A by winning the fifth tiebreaker over Callaway, total goals allowed within the division, the Mississippi High School Activities Association determined Wednesday.

Vicksburg and Callaway finished tied for second place in the division behind Ridgeland after Callaway beat VHS 2-1 Tuesday night at Memorial Stadium. The difference between the teams ultimately came down to how many goals each team allowed in their two matches against Ridgeland. Callaway allowed 10, and Vicksburg gave up eight. That sent the Gators on to the first round next Tuesday at Lewisburg.

Vicksburg coach Michael Guidry said the second half of his team’s 3-0 loss at home to Ridgeland on Jan. 9 was the deciding factor. The Gators gave up three goals in the first half, then buckled down and didn’t allow any in the second.

“We really looked at the second half we played against Ridgeland, where we kept them off the board in the second half. That kept us playing past senior day,” Guidry said.

Vicksburg and Callaway were dead-even in every other regard. They split their two meetings by identical 2-1 scores, which knocked out the first two tiebreakers of head-to-head matchups and head-to-head goal differential. Both lost to Ridgeland twice with identical minus-6 goal differentials — there’s a maximum of three from each game — sending it to the fifth tiebreaker.

Callaway lost 4-1 and 6-0 to Ridgeland. Vicksburg lost 5-0 and 3-0.

The sixth and final tiebreaker would have been a coin toss.

“We’re excited. We took a day off to clear our heads and sort all of this out,” said Guidry, whose team did not practice on Wednesday. “We’re going to try to make sure we’re focused and ready for Lewisburg.”

The Gators (5-12) will finish the regular season Saturday at home against Forest Hill, then travel to face Lewisburg Tuesday at 7 p.m. The two teams are familiar with each other, having played last Friday night at Memorial Stadium.

Lewisburg (12-4-1) won 5-0, but Guidry said he wasn’t sure how much he could take from it.

“I don’t know how much of a hand they showed because they already had the district wrapped up and they knew we might be playing each other in the first round,” Guidry said. “But style is style, so we do have an idea of what they like to do.”