Brandon takes two from MHS

By By Ryan Satcher / staff writer
Jan. 7, 2004
Tuesday night was a cold one, especially for the Meridian High soccer teams.
Brandon came to Meridian and swept a pair of soccer games from MHS to put both the Wildcats and Lady Wildcats in a tough position.
The Wildcats drop to 1-2 in division play after a 2-0 loss to the Bulldogs, while the Lady Wildcats dropped a 4-2 decision to fall to 1-2 in the division.
In the boys' game, the Wildcats missed opportunity after opportunity and Brandon finished a couple of runs to take the win.
The first opportunity came for the Wildcats early in the first half when Willie Brinson found Steven Cook with a pass. The blast by Cook was saved by Brandon keeper Dominic Newell.
Steven Sollie got open later in the half for a shot, but the low kick went right at Newell to keep the shutout intact.
Meridian continued to control the first half and came away with the only other good opportunity to score in the half, but a good shot by Brinson was knocked down by Newell to keep the game scoreless at the break.
Brandon came back with some chances in the second half. The Bulldogs had a header go over the goal and had a long shot by Chandler Ditto miss in the opening minutes.
Ditto later put the Bulldogs on top with a shot off a pass from Kevin Murriel to make the score 1-0.
Meridian missed another opportunity when a shot by Cook from the close range went over the goal.
Scotty Beatty finished off the Wildcats with less than 10 minutes left with a rocket into the right side of the goal to take a two-goal lead.
The Wildcats put together a couple of late runs but could not break the shutout and dropped to 6-7 for the year. MHS will be back in action when it hosts division foe Northwest Rankin on Tuesday.
Brandon (girls) 4
Meridian 2
Brandon jumped out to an early 2-0 lead on the Lady Wildcats and held on for a 4-2 victory in girls' prep soccer.
After the two teams traded runs early in the game, the Bulldogs got a goal when a shot slipped behind the keeper and Ashley Underwood was there to put it away to give Brandon a 1-0 lead.
The Bulldogs added another goal minutes later when Samantha Breland fed Perryn Tyler with a pass and Tyler finished the run with a shot into the side of the net.
Meridian came back with a run as Sarah Hammas passed to Kortney Harris. The ball got away from Harris and Brandon's keeper was able to charge and deflect it out.
Brandon added to its lead later in the first half on another goal by Tyler for a 3-0 advantage.
Meridian fought back, however, and picked up a goal with seconds left in the half. A corner kick by Leanna Baldner got loose in the box and Erin Ware was able to finish it with a shot that went in off the crossbar to make the score 3-1 at half.
Brandon added a goal in the second half when Underwood scored on a pass from Whitney Tyler.
The Lady Wildcats finished off the game's scoring late in the second half. Harris scored on a free kick from Baldner to make the final score 4-2.
Meridian dropped to 12-5 with the loss and will take on West Lauderdale on Saturday.