MERIDIAN —     The ball was kicked and Howell Ivy took off after it. Once he gathered control, Howell started toward the net. As he got in close, he let the ball fly. It sailed by the goalie and into the net, giving his team the lead.

    Howell celebrated his birthday and Father's Day in style as his goal in the third period gave the Meridian Futbol Club Elite a 2-1 win against the Flowood Fusion in the gold medal game of the U10 soccer tournament in the State Games of Mississippi on Sunday at the Jaycee soccer complex.

    "What a Father's Day gift," Elite coach Bob Dalton said. "This has to be the greatest Father's Day ever."

    Taking a page from their earlier tournament games, Elite faced an early deficit when the Fusion scored on a penalty kick at the six-minute mark of the opening period. Instead of folding, Elite rose to the occasion and with seven minutes gone in the second period, Phillip Mosely sent a shot toward the goal. It bounced off the goalie and a Fusion player inadvertently kicked it into the net. The goal was credited to Phillip and Elite tied the game at 1-1.

    "The Comeback Kids did it again," Dalton said. "We may get down but we are never out of a game."

    The game stayed that way as both teams jockeyed for position. Dennis Heidelberg started in goal early on for Elite and was tested early. Flowood send shot after shot his way and the young man deflected every shot. The game went into halftime tied at 1-1.

    "We played well in the first half," Dalton said. "We just needed a spark to make it happen."

    The spark came at the seven-minute mark of the third period. Howard took a pass from Phillip, squared up and sent the ball past the goalie to give Elite a 2-1 lead. Howard said he just wanted to have a shot.

    "When that ball went in, I was very happy," he said. "It was big."

    In the end, Howard's shot was the most important shot of the game. Flowood had numerous chances to tie but were stopped by the goal tending of Chapman Pope, who had relieved Dennis at halftime. Elite likewise had chances to increase the lead but Fusion's goalie was up for the challenge. Elite had two very good scoring chances in the fourth quarter. Paxton Anders hit the hall only to have it roll by the net. Dennis hit the ball from point-blank range only to have it sail over the crossbar.

    When the final horn sounded, Elite players and coaches celebrated like there was no tomorrow because, for them, there is no tomorrow. Many players will be moving up to the next level after this.

    To get to the afternoon's title game, Elite took on a familiar foe in the morning session of the tournament — Meridian One Life. One Life took the early lead on a goal from Wesley Purvis  at the four-minute mark of the first period.

    After allowing the opening goal, Elite turned up the defensive pressure and One Life couldn't adjust to it. One Life coach David Purvis said something just clicked out there.

    "We lost a little bit of our energy and we couldn't seem to get past their defense for some reason. We didn't have the shots on goal like we usually do. We had a good team against us today.

    "They've got a lot of good players on their team and they came to play today and we just couldn't thump all the way today," Purvis added.

    Elite tied the game at 1-1when Phillip broke away and scored at the two-minute mark of the second quarter. Dalton said that has been their team identity since the beginning.

    "Our team, for some reason, likes to do things the hard way. We never like taking it easy on our ourselves," Dalton said. "I call them the Comeback Kids because we've come back from deficits in more than 90 percent of our games."

    Dalton said he hated having to play a Meridian team early in the tournament and that it would have been great to play them in the finals.

    "It's always hard to see the kids you've coached in the season, kids from Meridian, playing against  each other in a match like this. You definitely want them in the end. You don't want to be a Meridian team sending a Meridian team home.," Dalton said. "They have a bunch of good kids on that team. I've coached many of them for years. i just love the fact that it was a close game."

    Dalton said he told his team, prior to the match , he wanted one thing out of his team.

    "Before the game, I told them 'All friendships aside,'" he said.  "'You either want to stay and play or you want to go home early. It's up to you. I can't do it for you.'"

    The team responded in the second half. With one minute gone by in the final period of play, Paxton intercepted a pass from One Life and sent the ball high into the air. the ball hit the crossbar and bounced in giving Elite a 2-1 lead. Dalton said he wanted Paxton to get that goal.

    "Pax is my man. Love the kid to death. Coached him last year and to see the way he's developed into a player is all the trophy anyone needs," Dalton said. " He deserved it and he's making things happen. Always an unselfish player, he will pass the ball rather than shoot it."

    Paxton said he had one person in mind when he kicked the ball.

    "I wanted to score for my dad," he said. "When it came to me, I hit it and was very happy to see it go in."

    Elite was not done scoring. Dennis made it 3-1 Elite when he scored on a break away at the eight-minute mark of the fourth. One Life cut the lead to 3-2 when Leighton Jenkins scored with less than a minute remaining. However, time ran out on One Life as Elite took the victory 3-2.

    As he handed out the gold medals to his team, Dalton stopped, paused and told the crowd that had gathered what he thought of his team of elite players.

    "I'm proud of these boys," Dalton said. "They never gave up."