CLINTON — Friends, family, teachers and fans alike stormed the field at the sound of the final whistle.

    Mississippi High School Athletics Association officials could be heard on the field of Clinton High School delivering a message: “Please stay off the field!”

    Not a chance, MHSAA.

    Southeast Lauderdale High School beat Sacred Heart High School in the Class 1A/2A/3A state title game 4-2 on penalty kicks in a vigorous, nail-biting classic that will be etched into the memories of Tiger fans for years to come.

    “I told the kids, lets do something great (Saturday),” Southeast Lauderdale coach Mike Thomas. “We might as well; it’s the last game of the year. It was a beautiful day in February, and we were still playing soccer. I told them to do a great thing.”

    The two squads competed to a scoreless tie through regulation, two 10-minute overtimes and two 5-minute sudden-death periods before culminating in Sacred Heart’s John Preston Andy failed kick on the sixth penalty attempt, sending the Southeast Lauderdale faithful into euphoria. Additionally, the win gave SELHS its first soccer state title in school history.

    “It makes you feel the time you’ve invested, when you see the benefits, it makes you feel like what you are doing is worthwhile,” said Thomas, who is in his eighth year at the helm.     “Not only did we win this thing, it was the way we did it. Nip-and-tuck all the way through, 0-0 and it came down to PK’s, and we stood up like champions in the end. It’s just a great day to be a Tiger.”

    Throughout the game there were a plethora of hard collisions, physical tackles, smack talk and a red card eventually shown to Sacred Heart’s Tyler Flathau.

    “We were definitely the underdogs coming into this,” senior forward Eric Hughes said. “We came out, and we persevered, and we pushed ourselves. We knew we had to win it.”

    Additionally, players on each squad bent at the waist with fingers wrapped around their shorts to catch their breath, taking heavy swigs of water from the sidelines at every opportunity as they battled through 110-minutes of grueling soccer action.

    “We’ve been in the playoffs four years in a row, and to be able to win it is just a tremendous feeling,” junior midfielder Andrew Bernard said. “It was a physical game; everyone was hurt, myself included. This is our last game, and we just had to give it our all.”

    Bernard, alongside Hughes, Caleb McGrew and Andres Alonso each converted on their penalty kicks in the shootout.

    “You’re nervous,” Bernard said. “But you know you have to do it for your team. You have to accomplish this for everybody, because this is what you’ve worked on all year. You just have to put it in the goal.”

    Through the fatigue and intense pressure, the Tigers defense stood stout as they kept the Crusaders off the scoreboard.

    “It was really nerve-racking,” said senior goalkeeper Jack Taylor. “We are just an all-around great team, and I wouldn’t want to play with anybody else. Our defense is the strongest in the state, I believe. This was crazy, but I loved every bit of it.”

    The win put an exclamation point on a banner season that witnessed Southeast Lauderdale finish with a 22-1 mark.

    “This feels absolutely awesome,” Hughes said. “We had a handful of doubts heading into the season, that we might even not make it into the playoffs. And here we are. We are holding the trophy.”