Starkville Academy continues to be a thorn in the side of Delta Streets Academy this season.
The Volunteers, who were the last team to beat the Lions five weeks ago before they won eight games in a row, ended their winning streak Monday by again defeating DSA, 1-0, at Mississippi Valley State.
Starkville (8-3-1) broke a scoreless tie in the second half, then held strong defensively in the final minutes — unlike last week’s 1-1 tie at Pillow Academy.
“The goal we gave up, we didn’t close out,” DSA head coach Connor Altman said. “It was off a rebound. But other than that, I thought we played well.
“Our midfield in the first half was kind of like Swiss cheese and we adjusted. Our kids came out and locked it up. We played well, it just wasn’t the result we wanted.”
The Lions (16-3) will try to bounce back Thursday on the road at Heritage Academy. They return home next week for a matchup Tuesday against district foe Indianola before they face Bayou Academy in another big non-district showdown next Thursday. The Colts (7-2, 3-1) beat DSA, 4-0, on Dec. 6, the Lions’ only other loss this season besides a pair of setbacks vs. Starkville. Both opponents are in MAIS Division II while DSA competes in Division III.
“We have Bayou coming up, which will be stiff,” Altman said. “It’ll be a game like this, hopefully with a better result.”
The Lions also had an eight-game winning streak snapped in last year’s state championship game, but Altman said he prefers losing in the regular season when there’s still time for lessons to be learned and improvements to be made. They still have a long way to go, but he sees evidence of the necessary intangibles in this year’s group.
“Our kids literally would have died out there if we could have got a goal there at the very end — all game really. Can’t fault the effort. The effort is there.”
On Saturday, the Lions cruised past Greenville St. Joe, 7-0.
Flavio Barrera, Danny Vargas and Chris Zuniga each scored two goals apiece for DSA. Joseph Zuniga tallied one goal and one assist while Daniel Lara, Fabrisio Barrera and Christian Ledesma also added assists.
- Contact Riley Overend at 662-581-7237 or roverend@gwcommonwealth.com. Follow @OverendOut on Twitter.
