Raiders advance to championship

By By Ryan Satcher / staff writer
Jan. 30, 2004
The Lamar School Raiders were determined to put the past behind them and reach the soccer MPSA Class AAA State Championship game on Thursday afternoon.
After coming out flat, the Raiders came through with a 4-1 victory over Jackson Academy to put themselves one game away from a state title. Lamar will travel to take on soccer-rival Jackson Prep in a game scheduled for 1 p.m. on Saturday.
A hat trick by senior Randy Boyd Thompson helped put the visiting Raiders over the top and into the big game.
Thompson put Lamar up 1-0 in the opening minutes of the first half. Drew Moffett fed Lane Rush with a nice ball down the right side, and Rush centered the ball to Thompson.
Thompson mishit the shot a little, but the shot managed to slip by the keeper to make the score 1-0.
Jackson Academy came back minutes later with a goal to tie the game. Morgan Wiggers found David Currid with a pass and Currid beat the keeper to tie the game 1-1.
Both teams were able to put a couple of runs together later in the first half but had to settled for the tie at half.
In the second half, JA came up with a good scoring chance in the opening minutes. Currid blasted a shot but Lamar keeper Scott Owen came through with a great save.
Later in the half, Thompson and Josh Remy began to put a lot of pressure on the Jackson Academy defense.
Rush fed Remy with a pass for a shot that went just wide left and seconds later hit Thompson for a shot that went wide.
Thompson finally got Lamar back on top as he beat the defense and scored on the breakaway to make the score 2-1.
JA answered back with a couple of scoring chances. Currid crossed the ball to Taylor Smith, but the header by Smith went wide. Smith had another nice shot on a header seconds later but the shot was saved and cleared out.
Thompson helped put the game away later in the half with his third goal of the game. Remy did a nice job of winning a ball in the middle and hit Thompson on the right side of the field.
Thompson ripped a long shot that went off the cross bar and in to make the score 3-1.
Jackson Academy had a chance to cut into the lead with an indirect kick inside the box, but Lamar's defense knocked down the shot and held the two-goal advantage.
Rush finished of the scoring in the final minutes when he took a pass from Daniel Hicks on a breakaway and bounced a shot off the charging keeper in. The goal helped secure the 4-1 victory for the visiting Raiders. Lamar improved to 10-1-1 for the season with the victory.