Oak Grove’s 19-match unbeaten streak and state championship hopes came to an end Wednesday night, as the Lady Warriors were eliminated by the Brandon Lady Bulldogs in a shootout.
Momentum was the recurring theme of the night.
Oak Grove led 2-0 at the half thanks to goals from Shelby Harrington and Taylor Stewart. But in the second half, Brandon scored twice in the span of two minutes, tying the game up at 2-2 with about 10 minutes left in regulation. Just like that, any overwhelming edge the Lady Warriors had was gone.
“Momentum is a very powerful thing,” Oak Grove head coach Clay Smith said. “I’ve been doing this 26 years total. Momentum, when it’s there, you can feel it. They had momentum in the second half, and we just could not get the ball. Couldn’t get control of the ball, couldn’t get it out.”
In the first overtime period, Smith’s Lady Warriors retook the lead on a Caymin Blalock header, but the Lady Bulldogs answered right back just minutes later in tying the match back up.
“They [Brandon] were just pressing and got those corner kicks,” Smith said. “That was a difference-maker. Those free kicks and corners they were getting, that was the changing point in the match.”
Neither team scored in the second overtime or the ensuing golden goal periods, so the match went to penalty kicks. That’s where Brandon seized control completely, winning the shootout, 3-0, and advancing to the Class 6A State Championship.
“It’s a mental thing. It’s a lot of pressure and a mental thing,” Smith said of the penalty kicks. “That was just tough. We weren’t on on our kicks.”
Oak Grove finished their season at 19-2-2, and despite the loss of star seniors like Lonnie Mulligan and Maggie Starns, Smith is adamant his team is headed to bigger and brighter things.
“I told the seniors that they reset the bar. They reset it,” Smith said. “It had been seven years since we got to South State. We got here, so I left them with the message that, ‘Hey, you younger players, you can get back here. You see what our program is about, and you can get back here’.
“I’m just really proud, and I know we’ll be back…I know they’ll be back.”
