Jake Watkins had a hat trick in the first half alone and added a fourth goal in the second half to lead Meridian to its seventh straight victory.

With the 6-1 win over Northeast Lauderdale, the Wildcats (7-0) avenged a preseason loss to the Trojans in the Lauderdale County Tournament — at a time when several key members of the Meridian team were missing as the MHS football team was still in pursuit of the Class 5A state championship.

“Our guys were really fired up to play Northeast,” said Meridian coach Eric Ferry. “They wanted to come out and play strong because this was the only team that had beaten us.”

And start strong they did.

In the game’s third minute, the Wildcats took the lead with a Dallas Hannah goal. Hannah — in just his second game since finishing up football — scored on a header off a corner kick by Christian Jackson.

Watkins scored his first goal in the 17th minute. He was assisted by Daniel Sollie.

The Trojans, who spent most of the first half on defense, didn’t get their first shot on goal until midway through the opening half. They managed only three shots in each half.

Watkins made it 3-0 when he scored off a throw-in by Hannah in the 21st minute.

Northeast got on the board the first, and only, time when Wright Hobgood found the back of the net after a previous shot was deflected by goalkeeper Dylan Harper.

Less than 3 minutes later, the Wildcats answered when Hannah took a shot on a breakaway and Jett Miller knocked in the deflection on a header, putting Meridian up 4-1.

The final goal of the first half came when Watkins scored off another corner kick by Jackson.

“Jake has come a long way for us since the beginning of last year,” Ferry said. “He was able to bring a lot of the focus onto himself, opening up some of our other guys.”

The second half did not provide the same fireworks as the Wildcats only scored once. The goal, which was Watkins’ fourth, came unassisted just inside the 54th minute.

The opportunity to score came less than 30 seconds after an apparent goal by Miller was not counted because of an offsides call.



Meridian girls 3

Northeast Lauderdale 0



After scoring only once in the game’s first 78 minutes, Meridian added two late goals to seal its victory against Northeast.

“It took us a little while to get started,” Meridian coach Melissa Crouch said. “But once we started making better passes we got our feet under us.”

Khalyn Harmon scored the first Lady Wildcat goal with an assist from Meme Huff.

The best scoring opportunity in the second half for the Lady Trojans came in the 67th minute when they had a breakaway, but goalkeeper Aretha Broadway made a diving stop on the shot.

“Aretha has been out with a hip injury and before that a broken thumb,” Crouch said. “She came up huge for us tonight, though.”

The Lady Wildcats (7-3) scored in the 78th minute when Maggie Freyaldenhoven booted a shot over the head of Northeast goalie Lauren McElroy, who had come out of the box.

The final goal of the night, which came in stoppage play, came off the foot of Karissa Both. Chelsea Byrd was credited with an assist on the score.