The Vicksburg Gators cleared one small obstacle on their road to a state championship Tuesday night.

Up next is a mountain.

Cameron Curtis scored two goals in a 2 1/2-minute span early in the second half, and Michael Cooper had a goal and two assists as Vicksburg dismantled Starkville 4-0 in the first round of the Class 5A playoffs at Memorial Stadium.

The win sends Vicksburg (20-5) into a second-round match at two-time defending state champion Clinton, which eliminated the Gators from the postseason each of the last two years – including a victory in the 2005 state title game.

&#8220I don’t think playing with (Clinton) is the mental hurdle. Beating them is the mental hurdle. Everybody in that locker room thinks we can play with them. But until we beat them it’ll be there,” Vicksburg coach Jason Bennett said. &#8220We do that, and I don’t think anybody could beat us. Those guys would be on cloud nine.”

Vicksburg looked ready for the challenge against Starkville (13-3-1), controlling the action for most of the game and dispatching the Yellow Jackets with relative ease.

Vicksburg outshot Starkville 8-1 in the first half and led 1-0 at halftime. The goal came on an acrobatic effort by Cooper, who hurdled Starkville keeper Tyler Abshire at the top of the goal box on a breakaway and got just enough on his shot before he went airborne to push it past Abshire and into the net at the 18-minute mark.

The Gators picked up the offensive pressure late in the half and put the game away early in the second.

At the 8 1/2-minute mark of the second half, Jay Hall sent a long pass from the right sideline all the way across the field to Curtis, who was streaking down the left side. Curtis got a step on his defender, dribbled once past Abshire, and put the ball in the net to make it 2-0.

About 2 minutes and 20 seconds later, Curtis struck again to cap a wild swing that deflated the Yellow Jackets.

Starkville’s Michael Lindsay set up teammate Parker Davis with a cross right in front of VHS keeper Bowen Woodson, but Woodson was able to stop a point-blank shot. He cleared the ball with a punt, and on the ensuing rush Curtis took a pass from Cooper and scored on a breakaway.

In the blink of an eye, the Yellow Jackets went from a one-goal deficit with 30 minutes to play to a nearly insurmountable three-goal hole. Showing the emotional drain of the huge momentum swing, they managed only two shots the rest of the game and had few offensive rushes.

&#8220That was a quick turnaround,” Starkville coach Brian Bennett said. &#8220It was an emotional killer more than anything.”

Ryan Ferrington added one more score for the Gators with seven minutes to play. But for all intents and purposes the game was over when Curtis scored to make it 3-0, Vicksburg coach Jason Bennett said.

&#8220It deflated them. You could see it deflated them,” he said. &#8220It would do that to any team.”

(B) Amory 7, St. Aloysius 2

Class 3A power Amory took a big lead on St. Al and never looked back in a Class 1A-2A-3A playoff victory.

Adam Thornton and Vincent Montalbano each scored a goal for the Flashes.

(G) Tupelo 2, Vicksburg 1

The Vicksburg Missy Gators were eliminated from the postseason with a loss to top-ranked Tupelo on Tuesday.