By Staff
RUSH CLASSIC – Meridian Crush's Chelsea Linton kicks the ball out against Northwest Rankin's Dresden Roach in girls under 14 action. Photo by Paula Merritt / The Meridian Star
By Thomas Burton / special to The Star
October 20, 2002
The Rush Classic Soccer tournament took place Saturday at Jaycee Soccer Complex and Northeast park.
In the under-8 boys round-robin matchups, the Florence Taz won both of their games. They defeated the Blue Rage of Newton 3-1, and they squeaked past the Meridian Pumas by the score of 3-2.
Newton Blue Rage ended the day with a 1-1 record. The lone win was 2-1 against the Laurel Vipers.
Two Meridian teams ended at 1-1 also. The Pumas got their only victory against the Boxers by the score of 6-1. The Boxers punched out the Laurel Vipers in the early game 3-2.
The under-10 boys bracket contained three undefeated teams, with the Florence Untouchables, Laurel Slime Timers, and the Meridian Nosco all winning their games.
Meridian Nosco put up victories against the Meridian Rattlers 5-0. They defeathered the Tuscaloosa Falcons 4-1 in the second game.
The Slime Timers scored five goals both games, defeating the Florence Hot Rods 5-2, and the Meridian Wolves 5-1.
Florence's other team, the Untouchables, won against the Meridian Stallions 1-0. They put four goals on the board against the Jackson Gold Strike to win 4-1.
The Patriots of Meridian were the only dominant team in the under-12 boys group. The Patriots won two games on Saturday. Central Jackson Collins won two games also, but had a loss.
The Patriots gave Collins a loss by the score of 2-0. The Patriots scored four to defeat the Meridian Rapids 4-2.
Collins gained its first win by edging the Meridian Buccaneers, 3-2. The second game was a shutout 4-0 against the Rapids.
The Under-10 girls got exciting play from the Sharks of Laurel. They posted up scores of 5-0 and 7-0 against the Meridian Lightning and the Florence Hurricanes. The Sharks sunk the the Meridian Hurricanes 3-0 in the early match.
Florence got two victories from the Red Hot Hotshots with wins over the SW Jackson Hotshots 5-0 and over the Meridian Blast by the score of 2-1.
The Lightning, Blast, and the Hurricanes each had one victory apiece. While the Jackson Hotshots ended the day winless.
Results were about even for the Under-12 girls also with only one team coming out undefeated.
The Laurel Blasters won two games and tied one. The Lady Blasters got the first win over SW Jackson Stars 2-1. In the second game, the Blasters faced the Blue Thunder of Laurel. Both teams battled and ended the game with the 1-1 tie.
The Blue Thunder got its only win by the score of 4-1 against the Newton Blue Rage.
Teams from Laurel just kept the winning going. In the under-14 girls bracket, the Laurel Sanders won two games by a goal each. The early victory was against the Clinton Kamikazie Flamingoes 3-2. Game two ended with the same result with Laurel winning 2-1 over the SW Jackson Breeze.
The Breeze won its only match by shutting out the Meridian Crush 4-0. NW Rankin also scooped up a win against the Crush by blanking them 3-0 in the final game.
Also, the Flamingoes held NW Rankin scoreless for the win 4-0.
Action was tough all around at Northeast Soccer Complex. Starting with the Under 14 Boys group.
Mid-State Corscadden and the Jackson Smoke put up huge victories with Corscadden defeating the NE Jackson Knights 5-0 and 2-1 over the Meridian Fusion.
The Smoke took care of business by winning 8-0 over the NW Rankin Panthers and they also held the Meridian Revolution scoreless by winning 3-0.
The Panthers got their lone win by defeating the Knights 2-1 and the Revolution ended the day winless.
Tupelo and Meridian Owen highlighted the day by winning both games as no other team took command in the under-16 boys bracket.
Tupelo won against South Madison County LeVert 4-0 and they cruised for the win against Meridian Remy 4-1.
Meridian Owen defeated the Rams of Rankin 3-1 while the second victory was a shutout against the Tuscaloosa Rowdies.
Meridian Remy won its first contest easily against S. Madison 3-0. The Rowdies handed the Raws its first win by the score of 3-0.
Brandon's team, the Revolution, had a close call for the win against NW Rankin McCarthy 2-0, But failed to score the second game against Meridian Sherril as the game ended in a 0-0 tie.
NW Rankin McCarthy broke out for the win against Meridian Sherril in the third game 2-0.
The playoffs continued for the Under 16 later in the evening.
Semi-Final games will be played at the Jaycee Soccer Complex. The Championship game will start at 1:00 on field 11.
The Under 14 boys will start their Championship game at 8:30 a.m. ,also on field 11.
Other Championships games will be held at the Jaycee Soccer Complex on Sunday with the under-12 girls game starting at 10:00 a.m. on field 13. The under-10 girls game starts at 1:00 p.m. on field 5. The under-14 girls start their playoffs at 7:00 a.m.
The under-10 boys their championship game starts at 11:30 a.m. on field 5.