October 6, 2021
The East Central Community College Warriors battle back late and showed tremendous heart on Tuesday afternoon, Oct. 5, as their match with the Copiah-Lincoln Community College Wolves went down to the wire. Unfortunately, the Wolves escaped Decatur with a 4-3 victory after picking up a goal in the final three minutes of play.
The Wolves leapt out in front with a goal in the first two minutes of action on a deep shot. The Warriors were not deterred and continued to pressure the Wolf Pack defense with attacks. With just 16 minutes remaining in the half, Paxton Anders(Meridian) got a rebound of the Wolf Pack keeper and put it into the back of the net for the equalizer. The score held for the final minutes of the half, making it 1-1 at the break.
The Wolves came into the second half on the attack and netted back-to-back goals about 15 minutes into the half. With the Wolf Pack lead now at 3-1, the Warriors once again dug deep and continued to battle despite trailing.
The effort finally paid off as Dorian Cox (Jackson) ripped a shot into the back of the net off a deflection from the Wolf Pack keeper. The shot cut the Wolves lead to just one, 3-2, with less than nine minutes to play. Four minutes later, Avery Liles(Wiggins) got a brilliant header off a second touch on an ECCC corner kick to knot the game up again, this time at 3-3, with just four minutes remaining in the contest.
"I wasn't pleased with how we started the game, but they battled back which I respect a ton," said ECCC head coach Ethan Paschal. "We still have to stop taking the opportunities we do create for granted. At the end of the day, you never want to concede four goals so we have to get back to work."
The Wolves ended up knocking in a go-ahead goal in the final minutes leaving the Warriors no time to respond. With the loss, the Warriors fall to 1-8-1 overall on the year and remain at 0-8 in division play. The Warriors will be back in Decatur this Friday, Oct. 8 as they take on Meridian at 7 p.m. on the turf playing surface of Bailey Stadium for another MACCC cross-divisional matchup.
