By Stan Caldwell
stanmansportsfan.com
PETAL – It was a milestone night for Oak Grove soccer.
Both girls coach Clay Smith and boys coach Jesse Lang recorded their 400th career victories in a sweep of Petal in a pair of Region 6-6A games Friday night at the Petal soccer field.
The Lady Warriors rolled past the Lady Panthers 4-0, then the Warriors followed suit with a 5-0 triumph over the Panthers
For the girls, Smith drilled his team on scoring out of set-piece plays during a long holiday layoff. The practice paid off handsomely, as the Lady Warriors scored all their goals on set pieces.
Oak Grove, which had not played in almost a month, improved to 10-3 overall and 2-0 in Region 6-6A; Petal dropped to 8-4-3 and 1-2.
“I told them in practice just the other day, how we’re going to defend inside the (18-yard-box) and how we’re going to attack inside the box,” said Smith.
“I’ve always told then that these games, these tough region games, are going to come down to set pieces. So, the fact that all four (goals) were from set pieces was amazing.”
For Smith, passing such a milestone was an honor and a recognition of his good fortune in leading one of the top girls soccer programs in the state.
“It’s amazing,” said Smith. “The good Lord has blessed me with a great place to teach and coach, great administration, great parents, great players.
“I’m at a place where I’m happy. I just love these girls; They are a tribute to the way they are raised. They’re good students, good people and good athletes.”
The Lady Warriors dominated from start to finish, spending most of the game operating in Petal’s end of the field.
As a result, Oak Grove was able to pepper the Lady Panthers to the tune of 33 shots, with 14 on goal. By contrast, Petal only had two shots all night, only one on goal, and the Lady Panthers didn’t get a shot on net until the 59th minute of play.
Nevertheless, Petal was able to stay in the game defensively, only trailing 1-0 at halftime.
“They’re a fantastic team, with a bunch of athletes and great soccer players,” said Petal coach Stephen McCarthy. “Our game plan tonight was to keep it tight in the back, make sure we didn’t give up a lot of space behind and down the sides, and I thought we did a good job of that.
“Unfortunately, with that kind of set-up, you invite the pressure, but if we were to commit players forward, it exposes you in the back.”
The Lady Warriors got their first score in the 18th minute, when sophomore Bailee Bennett got a point-blank look after a corner kick, one of 17 for the game, and powered home the goal.
Senior Taylor Stewart was a key factor in Oak Grove’s scoring on set pieces. She finished with two assists but had a hand in all four of the Lady Warriors’ goals.
“Typically, we haven’t been finishing them, but today we were really good at that,” said Stewart. “Our distribution of the ball and our placement was good, and everyone was making the right runs.
“We’ve been doing it in practice, but today we did it in the game. That was a gamechanger for us.”
Oak Grove put the game away quickly in the second half, scoring twice in the first seven minutes of the period.
In the 48th minute, freshman Raegan Chancellor got her head on a corner from Stewart and beat Petal goal-keeper Saylor Burden with the shot from eight yards out.
Four minutes, later junior Ally Stiglets made it 3-0 after getting a pass on a free kick for an unassisted goal. In the 70th minute, Bennett scored for her second goal of the game on a perfect crossing pass from Stewart to close the scoring.
“I’m really proud of my girls,” said McCarthy. “We refused to let them break us down. They refused to let shots in from the box, they stopped shots on through-balls. Definitely, set pieces ae something we’re going to have to work on.”
Oak Grove will face a tough test in its next game, on Tuesday at Brandon.
“When two good teams play, a lot of them are just too good for you to just dribble in and score,” said Smith. “You have to take advantage of your corners and free kicks, and we did that tonight.
“That was really good for us coming off such a long layoff. When we play Brandon, it’s always going to be a barnburner, and it’s always going to come down to those set pieces. So, this gives us some confidence.”
In the boys game, speed was the big difference, as the Warriors ran all over the Panthers. Oak Grove improved to 10-2-1 overall and 2-0 in region; Petal dropped to 11-3 and 1-2.
“For years, I was into the bigger soccer players,” said Lang. “But I’ve realized that speed kills. If you’re faster than the other guys, that helps immensely.”
After 10 minutes of sparring in the early going, the Warriors struck first in the 12th minute of play, when the Panthers were whistled for a foul inside the 18-yard box. Junior Julio Martinez converted the penalty kick to get Oak Grove on the scoreboard.
“We could have done better, but a win’s a win,” said senior midfielder Brady Mills. “The idea was to keep possession. That didn’t work too well in the first half, but we got it back in the second half.”
The Warriors made it 2-0 in the 29th minute, when junior Luke Dickson found an open space and hammered home an uncontested shot from six yards out.
“The dude took a back touch, I read it, I got (the ball) from him and finished it,” said Dickson. “They probably thought I wasn’t that fast, but I showed them and finished the game with it.”
That’s how it stayed through the rest of the first half, although the Warriors finished the period with nine shots on goal, as they dictated play from the midfield.
“We had some key starters out with injuries tonight that hurt us,” said Petal coach John Dicks. “So, we had some young kids who had to step in. But it was some good experience for some of the young kids that were able to play.”
Oak Grove took no prisoners in the second half, however, scoring two goals in a two-minute span near the midway point in the period.
In the 56th minute, sophomore Parker Sellers headed home a shot inside the 6-yard box off a free kick from 15 yards out by junior Broc Bookout.
Oak Grove kept the heat on, getting two shots, the second on goal, and junior Cade Ortego scored on the rebound 58 minutes in.
“I think we started talking better,” Lang said. “We were playing OK the first half, but there were a lot of times when we missed some opportunities because we weren’t communicating with each other.
“The second half, we communicated better, then I hear the voice from the field I hear every day (in practice). I make the pass I need to make, and we make the connection.”
The Warriors’ final goal came in the 75th minute, when junior Garrett Stephens buried a rocket shot from 35 yards out.
Oak Grove finished with 27 shots for the game, 16 on goal. Petal only got three shots, none on goal.
“The kids we had out were the midfielders,” said Dicks. “I mean, they’ve played midfielder some before, but that hasn’t been their regular position this year.
“So, you’re shifting people around from their normal position into those positions they may not be familiar with. It gave them good experience, but it’s still a place they haven’t played all year.”
Lang says this will be his last season as the coach at Oak Grove, so passing the 400-win mark was extremely gratifying.
“I didn’t realize it until I had to turn in a coaching thing for the school before the season,” said Lang. “I said, ‘dang, 390 at the end of last season.’ So this makes 400. I’m excited about it.”
Lang has had some fine teams over the course of his career, but the Warriors have never made it to the state championships.
“They’re as good as they want to be,” Lang said. “We’ve had teams that had players on it that had better talent, better skill, but the team wasn’t as deep.
“This team, these guys can all play. You can’t look at us and say, ‘you’ve got to stop this kid or that kid.’ You’ve got to stop them all.”
Photos courtesy of Jesse Johnson
