Photo: Action from the first half of Saturday’s 6A playoff boys’ soccer game between Olive Branch at Center Hill. (Bob Bakken/desotocountynews.com)
The last two DeSoto County high school boys’ soccer teams remaining in the playoffs became one remaining team on Saturday afternoon. That’s when Center Hill shut out county and crosstown rival Olive Branch 2-0 in the quarterfinals of the 6A playoffs. The Mustangs now will play at Warren Central Tuesday evening for the North Half championship and a spot in the state championship game.
It will be a rematch of last year’s North Half final game, a game that Center Hill won 4-1 to reach the state championship. A late goal in the state final gave the Long Beach Bearcats their fourth straight state title, defeating Center Hill by a score of 3-2.
In Saturday’s game, all of the scoring came in the space of about two minutes of the first half for the Mustangs.
Senior Erick Duenas netted the first goal with about 18 minutes remaining in the half after a corner kick. Shortly after that, sophomore defender Evan Miller’s shot found its way past the Conquistador goalkeeper for a 2-0 lead.
After that, Center Hill’s back line and goalkeeper Aidan Anewalt became impenetrable as the Quistors were stopped in every effort to get the ball in close to shoot, or blocked by Anewalt when shots did come.
“That’s actually an all-new back line from last year,” said Center Hill coach David Hoggatt. “Coming into this year, that was a question mark and they have really locked in over the last half of the season and have been very impressive.”
Hoggatt added that stopping a team three times in a season like they were able to do, is still difficult.
“Our guys came out prepared, they prepared all week, were locked in and they were ready to play today,” Hoggatt said.
Center Hill opened the playoffs with an easy 7-0 victory entering Saturday’s contest. The Mustangs had not lost since early January, but also had a number of contests either canceled or moved to the Olive Branch turf at Pool Field to play due to weather and condition issues on the Center Hill grass field.
Olive Branch (11-12) opened the playoffs with a 3-1 victory at Ridgeland on Tuesday. Coach Logann Cossey posted on X/Twitter that he was proud of his team’s season.
Our Conquistador Boys fall 0-2 to Center Hill. It has been a season to be proud of. #OBPride
