STARKVILLE — Starkville High School’s 2020-21 boys soccer season came to a somber halt Tuesday night.
Falling 4-2 in overtime to rival Oxford in the first round of the Mississippi High School Activities Association 6A playoffs, the No. 1-seeded Yellow Jackets saw their near-last second score with just over two minutes remaining in regulation fall to waste as the Chargers delivered two knockout blows in the first 10 minutes of the extra period to end the hosts’ year.
“We tried to go into the overtime with some new tactics and switch it up a little bit,” Starkville head coach Evinn Watson explained. “But I think we just kind of forgot and got a little sloppy here and there.”
Despite four second-half scores and two more in overtime, the Chargers and Yellow Jackets battled to a scoreless draw in Tuesday’s first half. Controlling possession for the bulk of the opening 40 minutes, Oxford narrowly missed an opening tally on a shot from Aiden Belk from well beyond the 18-yard box that sent Starkville goalie Griffin Davis sprawling.
Yellow Jacket defender Soren Haupt saved a second near-Charger goal as he darted behind Davis to stop a ball that had been chipped over the Starkville keeper just inches shy of the goal line.
Oxford looked to have found the chink in Starkville’s armor with 26 minutes remaining in the frame as a long free kick was bobbled by Davis and promptly sent into the back of the net by an Oxford attacker. But as the Chargers began to celebrate, the linesman blew the play offside.
Sophomore Ethan Pulliam breathed life into an otherwise listless Starkville attack when he entered the contest with 14 minutes remaining in the first half. Ripping off a 50-yard run, he just missed a gaggle of incoming Yellow Jackets on a cross that flew into the mitts of Charger goalie Scott Coker.
“I mean, he loves to run for the ball,” Watson said of Pulliam. “He loves those thorough balls, so I told him, ‘Man, this is your game; the through ball is open, so be ready.’ Once he started doing that, the back line had to drop in a little bit, and it changed up things for their team.”
After a sluggish first 40 minutes, Starkville opened the scoring in Tuesday’s contest on a Max Buehler goal in the 44th minute. Receiving a corner kick cross, Buehler deflected the pass off his right foot, ever so slightly tapping the crossbar before his shot dipped into the back of the net.
Oxford found the equalizer 15 minutes later as Joel Sandoval netted a bouncing ball in the Starkville box to pull the Chargers even before midfielder Jack Tannehill slammed home a bouncing ball off a Chargers corner kick to push the visitors ahead.
With the clock ticking toward two minutes remaining, Starkville’s last-ditch effort manifested in a flying header from Haupt that trickled past Coker and gifted the Yellow Jackets one last breath of postseason life.
Oxford took the lead for good three minutes into the extra frame when Josh Zuniga connected with another bouncing ball inside the Starkville box. Charger offensive weapon John West Perry put the finishing touches on Tuesday’s win when he notched the last tally of the night with under two minutes remaining in the first half of overtime to send Oxford into the second round.
“The main message, man, is just remember this feeling,” Watson said through a hushed tone. “You never like this feeling, and it’s probably not the last time you’re going to feel it. But any of those times where you don’t feel like doing that extra work, that extra sprint, that extra lift or that extra workout, hey, come back to this feeling right here.”
Ben Portnoy reports on Mississippi State sports for The Dispatch. Follow him on Twitter at @bportnoy15.
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