By By Tony Krausz / assistant sports editor
June 21, 2004
The Meridian Youth Soccer Organization Blue Demons completed their tear through the State Games of Mississippi's youth soccer under-12 boys tournament with gold medals around their necks.
The Blue Demons downed the South Mississippi Soccer Club Thunder 9-0 on Sunday at the Jaycee Soccer Complex in the gold-medal game. The Thunder earned the silver medal.
MYSO finished the two-day tournament scoring 44 goals in five games, while only giving up six. The gold-medal game was the team's first shutout of the tourney.
Nate Hodges led the charge for MYSO in the final game, scoring four goals against SMSC.
Mason Tabb and Hayes Mitchell each had two goals for the Blue Demons, and Taylor Mabry scored one goal in the medal game.
Sam Daniel recorded the shutout in net for MYSO, and he was in goal for the four previous wins in the tournament. The Blue Demons won three games on Saturday, and they defeated the Madison Flame in a semifinal match Sunday morning.
In the bronze medal game, the SMSC Thunder scored a 5-4 win over the Clinton Riley to claim third place in the tournament.
Under-12 girls
There was not a blowout in the under-12 girls' gold-medal game between the SMSC Arsenal and the Laurel Jones County Soccer Organization Lightning.
The medal game went into overtime, but Lightning forward Macie Wallace didn't let the extra period last long, scoring in the opening seconds of the first OT for a 3-2 win.
LJCSO's Morgan Pace swiped the ball from SMSC after the kickoff to start the overtime and passed the ball to Wallace on the left wing.
Wallace sent a long shot in on the SMSC goal, and the ball slipped through the goalkeeper's hands to give LJCSO the victory.
Pace tallied two goals in regulation for LJCSO, which took a 2-1 advantage into the closing minutes of the game.
SMSC's Audrea Horsey, who scored her team's first goal, scored on a break away down the left sideline, burying a shot into the right side of the net to force overtime in the medal game.
In the bronze medal game, the Hattiesburg Youth Soccer Association Blitz tallied a 2-1 victory over the Greenville Sparks to capture third in the tournament.