Mother Nature wasn’t kind to the North Pike Jaguars on Tuesday. The Jaguars had played on dry fields all season long, only to have a strong, quick rain hit the field an hour before Tuesday’s start.
The carpet was pulled out from underneath them, and the boys and the girls weren’t able to defeat their first-round opponents in the 1A/2A/3A state playoffs.
The girls lost 3-1 to Resurrection after trailing 1-0 at halftime. The boys, who were down 2-0 at the half, lost 3-1 to Pass Christian.
The question mark fell firmly on North Pike in the girls game. Resurrection had faced similar conditions in its game to get into the playoffs against Our Lady Academy. They won it 1-0.
“We knew coming in how they played in this,” North Pike head coach Wes McCullough said. “We saw Resurrection play on a field like this, but we haven’t played in any kind of weather this year.”
A goal in the first five minutes as the Jaguars were still feeling out the turf beneath their feet put extra pressure on North Pike.
At first the Jaguars tried to speed things up, which led to some loose play and a slide tackle into a group of Resurrection defenders that earned Kayla Stockton a yellow card. The Jaguars backed off the accelerator a little after that and put together some scoring chances.
Stockton found shot off a run down the left middle part of the field that wasn’t as marshy as the sidelines. Her shot was off target, but North Pike followed with a corner kick which found Stockton’s head, but couldn’t find the net.
Stockton and Kayce Bullock both had shots in the 35th minute, but the Eagles’ defense didn’t allow a goal.
At the half, the Jaguars at least had an idea what needed to be done to counteract the field conditions.
“We didn’t change things other than playing to the middle and running to the balls rather than playing them wide,” McCullough said.
With the sidelines drenched balls would frequently stop after a couple short bounces, unless they were played to the drier middle of the field.
Resurrection added a goal in the 45th minute off a corner kick and in the 51st minute, when Emmaleigh Davis scored her second goal of the game running through the North Pike defense and beating the keeper.
In the 61st minute, the Jaguars didn’t take advantage of a tailor-made look to get back in the game.
A play in the left side of the box pulled the Eagles’ keeper, but the ball was played to the right, where Maggie Dunaway had an open look at the goal. She fired wide.
Ten minutes later, Stockton found some good footing in the middle of the box and put in what would be the Jaguars’ only goal of the night. It was also her 43rd of the season.
The North Pike boys were playing with another handicap as leading goal scorer John Paul Price had to sit out the first round playoff game because he was sent off with a red card in the regular season finale.
Price would have missed the first half of any second round game as well.
“Price scored 30 goals for us and him not being on the field hurt us,” McCullough said. “We stepped up and played the best we could. We had to bring Trey Wells out of goal and make adjustments.”
After two early set pieces the Jaguars’ offense stalled with the front line staying near midfield, not pushing forward unless Pass Christian left open space.
In the 16th minute and again in the 18th, the Pirates struck.
Steven Harshbarger dribbled around the defense on what would have been a sweep to the right were it football. He ripped his shot just inside the box and a little outside the right post.
“That was a great kick,” McCullough said. “(Wells) said he never saw it until it hit the net.”
The shot curled just inside the near post for a 1-0 lead.
In the 18th minute, Clinton Wallace put home a free kick for the 2-0 lead. Wallace buried his shot in the upper far corner of the net.
“We screwed up on a defensive set and he took what was given him,” McCullough said.
In the second half, the Jaguars put a number on the board off a corner kick. Jonathan Beckerson placed the ball right in front of the goal head-high. Pass Christian’s goalie wasn’t able to control it and tipped it straight up in the air. Mac McMillan beat the ball to the far post and headed it in for the only goal of the game for North Pike.
