Knight-marish Ending

Sports

West looks ahead to bright future

    CLINTON – This isn't the end for the West Lauderdale soccer team.
    After falling 5-0 to St. Stanislaus in the Class 4A boys state championship game Saturday at Clinton High School, West coach Bryan Miley promised the Knights would be back.
    "It was good experience," he said. "We're coming back."
    West returns 16 players off its 22-man roster, including junior mid Alex Malvaez, sophomore fullback A.J. McClinton, sophomore keeper Scott Gray, freshman mid Chris Mallette and freshman forwards Lyle Daughtery and Tyler Germany. The future is bright for the Knights even as they were denied their second state title, 10 years after West claimed the Class 1A/2A/3A title under current Meridian Community College coach Alex George's guidance.
    That promising future was on display in Saturday's first half when Gray kept the Knights close, coming up with seven saves as the Rock-a-Chaws furiously fired on the West goal.
    In the second half, though, St. Stanislaus continued to control play early and took advantage of point-blank shots to pull away. The Rock-a-Chaws converted on four of six attempts on goal in the second half, all within the box.
    “(Gray) can't do it all,” Miley added. "We made some mistakes back here, they got that cheap one when A.J. came out, he had that turf all up in his eyes, and it just wasn't our day."

SENIOR SENDOFF
    While West's future is bright, the Knights did say goodbye to six seniors in Saturday's championship game: midfielders Alex Young, Nate Hodges and Dylan Shirley and fullbacks Joey Lawn, David Lott and Adam Hicks.

DOUBLE DIPPING
     With the win, St. Stanislaus captured its second state championship of the year as the Rock-a-Chaws also captured the Class 4A football title in December. Among the Rock-a-Chaws taking home their second championship are seniors Evan Ladner and Boomer Scarborough, juniors Kollin Cannon, Grant Thompson and Taylor Thompson, sophomore Alden St. Mary and freshman Perre' Carter.

TITLE HAUL
The win gave the Rock-a-Chaws their seventh state title, accompanying Class 4A crowns in 2003 and 2004, and Class II titles in 1996 and 1997.

— Jamie Wachter

Related Photos

West Lauderdale is defeated by Stanislaus 5-0 for the Class 4A state championship Saturday in Clinton. Paula Merritt
West Lauderdale is defeated by Stanislaus 5-0 for the Class 4A state championship Saturday in Clinton. Paula Merritt
West Lauderdale is defeated by Stanislaus 5-0 for the Class 4A state championship Saturday in Clinton. Paula Merritt
West Lauderdale is defeated by Stanislaus 5-0 for the Class 4A state championship Saturday in Clinton. Paula Merritt
West Lauderdale is defeated by Stanislaus 5-0 for the Class 4A state championship Saturday in Clinton. Paula Merritt
West Lauderdale is defeated by Stanislaus 5-0 for the Class 4A state championship Saturday in Clinton. Paula Merritt
West Lauderdale is defeated by Stanislaus 5-0 for the Class 4A state championship Saturday in Clinton. Paula Merritt
West Lauderdale is defeated by Stanislaus 5-0 for the Class 4A state championship Saturday in Clinton. Paula Merritt
West Lauderdale is defeated by Stanislaus 5-0 for the Class 4A state championship Saturday in Clinton. Paula Merritt
West Lauderdale is defeated by Stanislaus 5-0 for the Class 4A state championship Saturday in Clinton. Paula Merritt
West Lauderdale is defeated by Stanislaus 5-0 for the Class 4A state championship Saturday in Clinton. Paula Merritt
West Lauderdale is defeated by Stanislaus 5-0 for the Class 4A state championship Saturday in Clinton. Paula Merritt
West Lauderdale is defeated by Stanislaus 5-0 for the Class 4A state championship Saturday in Clinton. Paula Merritt
West Lauderdale is defeated by Stanislaus 5-0 for the Class 4A state championship Saturday in Clinton. Paula Merritt
West Lauderdale is defeated by Stanislaus 5-0 for the Class 4A state championship Saturday in Clinton. Paula Merritt
West Lauderdale is defeated by Stanislaus 5-0 for the Class 4A state championship Saturday in Clinton. Paula Merritt
West Lauderdale is defeated by Stanislaus 5-0 for the Class 4A state championship Saturday in Clinton. Paula Merritt
West Lauderdale is defeated by Stanislaus 5-0 for the Class 4A state championship Saturday in Clinton. Paula Merritt
West Lauderdale is defeated by Stanislaus 5-0 for the Class 4A state championship Saturday in Clinton. Paula Merritt
West Lauderdale is defeated by Stanislaus 5-0 for the Class 4A state championship Saturday in Clinton. Paula Merritt
West Lauderdale is defeated by Stanislaus 5-0 for the Class 4A state championship Saturday in Clinton. Paula Merritt
West Lauderdale is defeated by Stanislaus 5-0 for the Class 4A state championship Saturday in Clinton. Paula Merritt
West Lauderdale is defeated by Stanislaus 5-0 for the Class 4A state championship Saturday in Clinton. Paula Merritt
West Lauderdale is defeated by Stanislaus 5-0 for the Class 4A state championship Saturday in Clinton. Paula Merritt
West Lauderdale is defeated by Stanislaus 5-0 for the Class 4A state championship Saturday in Clinton. Paula Merritt
West Lauderdale is defeated by Stanislaus 5-0 for the Class 4A state championship Saturday in Clinton. Paula Merritt
West Lauderdale is defeated by Stanislaus 5-0 for the Class 4A state championship Saturday in Clinton. Paula Merritt
West Lauderdale is defeated by Stanislaus 5-0 for the Class 4A state championship Saturday in Clinton. Paula Merritt

Discussion

February 7, 2010

Rock-a-Chaws blitz Knights in second half

By Daniel Rigdon / Sports Writer The Meridian Star The Meridian Star Sun Feb 07, 2010, 08:31 AM CST

CLINTON —     West Lauderdale held its own through the first 40 minutes of play Saturday only to have its title dream shot down by St. Stanislaus.

    SSC exploded in the second half to capture its third title in eight years in the Class 4A State Soccer Championship, downing the Knights 5-0 on a bone-chilling, windy morning.

    "We were just overmatched today," said West coach Bryan Miley. "I can't tell you how proud I am of my team."

    West Lauderdale ends its season with a record of 14-3, while capturing a Division 5-4A title and a North State Championship.

    However, the state championship slipped away when the Rock-a-Chaws broke things wide open early in the second half when Kollin Cannon fired a shot in from point-blank range off of a Matt Rentz assist to push their 1-0 halftime lead to two goals in the second minute.

    Three minutes later, Cannon would again find the back of the net from the exact same spot, this time on an assist from Philip Prieur.

    West then went on the offensive, creating shot-after-shot on the Stanislaus goal but would come up empty-handed each time. The Knights outshot the Rock-a-Chaws 11-6 in the second half.

    West seemed to regain its composure as it kept possession on St. Stanislaus' end of the field for the next 12 minutes.

    Once again Stanislaus had the answer, though, as Cole Phillips scored in the 17th minute to make the score 4-0.

    From that point on the teams would battle back-and-forth up before Jacob Boone netted the final score of the contest with one minute left in the contest to make the final 5-0.

    Before the second-half explosion by the Rock-a-Chaws, West looked to jump on the Rock-a-chaws early as the Knights had two shots on goal in the opening minutes of the first half. However, West could not convert either.

    St. Stanislaus then took control and persistently attacked the West Lauderdale goal as it had the strong wind blowing in its favor.

    Knights' keeper Scott Gray would put forth a tremendous effort as he recorded seven first-half saves to keep West in contention.

    Unfortunately, Prieur would drill a shot into the upper-right 90 to break the stalemate and put the Rock-a-Chaws up 1-0 in the 30th minute of the first half.

    West was not discouraged and used a great defensive effort to shut down the Stanislaus attack to enter halftime only trailing by one goal.

    "I thought we came in and tried to play our game," said Miley. "We knew we had to come in and play well defensively. They wanted to get physical so we tried to get physical back.

    "They had the wind with them in the first half and got one easy goal"

    St. Stanislaus (14-5-1) had 13 shots-on-goal to West's five in the first half.

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