The Pillow Academy Mustangs have a shot at repeating as state champs.
PA survived a second-half onslaught from Hartfield Academy for a 1-0 victory in the State AAAA Division II semifinals Monday at the Mississippi Valley State soccer complex in Itta Bena.
The win sets up a repeat showdown of last year’s championship match between Pillow and the Lamar School of Meridian. Pillow won its first-ever boys state soccer championship in 2017, defeating Lamar 4-2 in the championship tilt.
Pillow led Hartfield 1-0 at the break.
Hartfield dominated the second half and almost tied the game on a number of occasions. With 13 minutes left in the game, Hartfield missed a golden opportunity when junior Cody Martin missed a penalty kick
“Floyd (Melton IV) would have made that stop if the shot had not missed that post by inches,” second-year PA head coach Serafin Simon said. “He guessed right, and he was there for the stop.”
Despite eight free kicks on the offensive side of the field, Hartfield was never able to score on Melton and the sophomore-laden defense. Hartfield was shut out in all three losses to Pillow this year.
PA got its lone goal with six minutes left in the first half. Junior Sunjay Chawla placed a lofted pass over the Hartfield defense. Senior Eli Burton took the kick and booted a left-footed goal.
Pillow repeatedly had offensive waves in the first half, and the domination showed as it outshot Hartfield 8-1 at the break. But the Mustangs were unable to get the ball past senior keeper Kyle Kellums, who recorded nine saves for the game.
“I told their goalie after the game he had nothing to hang his head over,” Simon said. “He’s the best goalie we’ve played all year.”
The game was moved to Valley because Pillow’s field was determined to be unplayable due to the recent rains.
Pillow (10-3) will play Lamar for a chance to wins its second straight state title this week. The championship game is scheduled for Thursday at Pillow, but that was still up in the air this morning as school officials were mulling options to maybe move the game based on the high chances for rain Wednesday and Thursday.
