By Angie Ledbetter
It was a tough day for the South Panola girl’s and boys’ soccer teams on Tuesday when both lost to Senatobia.

“It was one of those nights where experience counted a little bit. Senatobia has had a soccer program for a while and I remember playing them when I was in high school,” said Head Coach Hunter Mize. “Coach Holley has been there for a while and does a great job.”

“They understand the game of soccer and know how to play. You could tell they grew up playing when our kids didn’t so that makes a big difference.”

Senatobia girls 5, SP 0

The girls were shut out 5-0.

“Our girls still played hard,” Mize said. “For the first 10 minutes we were kind of sloppy and not really focused on the game so Senatobia put up two quick goals on us. Both goals were a mistake that we’ve talked about time and time again. Don’t kick it across the face of the goal but we did it twice in a row. We finally settled in some and played a little better defense at that point.”
The game was 2-0 at the half. Mize said he felt good going into the half with that score and made some adjustments.

“We came back out in the second half and lost focus again. Senatobia scored two more goals on us quick.”

Rebecca Garner had 28 saves in the game.

“It was impressive. She did a very good job at coming out to get the ball and was aggressive. What that tells me is she did a pretty good job in the goal, our defense did a pretty bad job and our offense didn’t do a good job at holding the ball.”

“We also didn’t have Sydney and Chloe Morgan due to them playing basketball so that hurt a little bit. Chloe is so dominant in the middle of the field and there’s nobody that athletic on the field nine times out of ten. With Garner playing the way she did, having Sydney not there isn’t hurting us as bad so we might end up trying to find somewhere in the field for Sydney if we can. You can’t keep Chloe off the field and you really need to find a spot for Sydney because she’s so athletic. I still think if we can get some things fixed that game can be a whole lot better.”

SP Boys 1, Senatobia 4
The boys lost 4-1 to the Warriors.

“We came out and played well for about the first 15 minutes. I think those 15 minutes was us trying to figure them out and them trying to figure us out.”

“Senatobia ended up finding the back of the net and how to beat us. They had some very fast players. We couldn’t keep up with them nine times out of 10 and that hurt us.”

The Tigers were down 2-0 at the half.

“Senatobia had a penalty kick but Ethan Gatlin made a good save for us or it would’ve been 3-0 instead. Gatlin went out with a concussion before the first half was over so Mason Wilkerson entered the game.”

“Wilkerson did a good job. Those two players get to compete for it. When we get Trey Tedford out there after football is over this week we’ll have three competing for it.”

“The two goals Wilkerson allowed was a one-on-one and he kind of hesitated a little bit because he hadn’t seen the goal much. The other one was the guy beat our defense. Wilkerson got a hand on it but it was too close and powerful to keep out of the neat.”

Gatlin had two saves and Wilkerson had seven. Gatlin also had two opposing shots on goal, allowed one opposing penalty kick and allowed one corner kick.

Senatobia was up 4-0 when Victor Munagorri scored the only goal for the Tigers with about 15 minutes left in the game according to Mize.

“We made some adjustments at halftime by making Senatobia defend the width of the field with a runner on each side of the field. Munagorri ended up getting a two on one in the middle and ended up dribbling by two guys. The goal keeper got his hand on it but he had enough strength on it that the ball ended up getting at the back of the net to the keeper so that was good. We finally did something good and that was an important goal for us not to get shut out.”
Munagorri and Ryan Darby made two shots on the goal and Noah Willis made one. Darby also took one corner kick. 

“When we get the four football players on the field after this week that’s going to help because we’re going to have some good quality depth and that’s going to be very important for us because we’ve got to be a team that pressures the ball.”

“We’re going to have some options and it’s going to be tough to make out a line come Saturday or Monday but something to look forward to.”

South Panola travels to New Albany tomorrow to play starting with the girls at noon and the boys at 2 p.m. On Monday they will host Oxford starting at 5 p.m. with the girls and the boys at 7 p.m.. The games will move to the South Panola football field.