A hard-fought first half was not enough for the Vicksburg Missy Gators to pull out a win in the first round of the MHSAA Class 5A girls soccer playoffs Tuesday night.

Grenada scored six times in the second half, Kaila White finished with a hat trick, and the Lady Chargers ended Vicksburg’s season with a 7-0 decision at Memorial Stadium.

Five of Grenada’s goals came in the last 22 minutes, turning a close game into a blowout.
Grenada (10-5-1) advanced to the second round to play Oxford on Saturday.

“I think it was a pretty evenly matched up game,” Vicksburg coach Montra Edwards said. “I think at the end their depth kind of worn in on us a little bit. They’re a good ball club, a really good ball club. Very fundamentally sound.”

At halftime the Missy Gators were only down 1-0 and still had determination to turn it around, but a roster of quality players and a change in tactics by Grenada proved too much in the second half.

“I think they had depth and they made the necessary adjustments at the end,” Edwards said.

About eight minutes into the second half, White scored her second goal of the night on an assist by Gracie Gustafson. Then, almost halfway into the second half two more goals were scored within four minutes of each other, which dampened Vicksburg’s spirits. The first came with 22 minutes left in the game and was made by Delanie Williams. Tori Dubard scored the second with just under 20 minutes remaining to put Vicksburg down 4-0.

The Missy Gators started to up the intensity and left Grenada open to counterattack and score three more goals in the final 11 minutes of the game. White, Kate Blankenship and Lindsey Griffin all scored.

The first goal of the night was made by White and came with about 17 minutes left in the first half on an assist from Williams. Grenada keeper Hannah Baker had three saves on the night.
Vicksburg’s keeper Virgie Demby had a standout game with 15 saves.

“She’s awesome,” Edwards said. “She’s the reason why we’re here now. She’s done that all year.”

Edwards also commended Jewel Adamson for taking a ball to the face and immediately bouncing back up. He said her heart, desire and fight embodied what his team was about all season.

The Missy Gators (7-5) have not been past the first round of the playoffs since 2009, but still finished with a winning record and won the Division 4-5A title for the third time in four seasons.

“That was kind of the characteristic of our team. We were pretty much a blue-collar team. It was a good run. We would have liked for it to have ended a little different, but I think it was a great run,” Edwards said.

(B) Germantown 6, Vicksburg 0

Germantown scored four goals in the second half to pull away from Vicksburg (5-10) and end the Gators’ season in the first round of the Class 5A boys’ soccer playoffs.

Vicksburg finished the season with losses in four of its last five games, and was outscored 22-2 in that stretch. Its only win was a forfeit over Canton last week.

Germantown (7-8-1), which has finished as the Class 5A runner-up each of the past three seasons, advanced to the second round to face Center Hill.