HS: First winter state champs are crowned

by Sheldon Shealer

February 10, 2020

Northwest Rankin and Madison Central entered the Mississippi Class 6A boys soccer state semifinals with undefeated records.

But Ocean Springs walked away with the title after defeating both -- Northwest Rankin in the semis and Madison Central in the final -- en route to the program's first state title since 2011.

Ocean Springs' title was the highlight of the first state championship weekend for the 2019-2020 winter season. Gulfport (Miss.) and West Lauderdale (Miss.) claimed girls state titles secure a 1-2 finish in Mississippi. Gulfport went 21-0-4 while West Lauderdale finished 23-1-3, and its only loss was a 1-0 setback to Gulfport. In Hawaii, the girls season drew to a close with Kamehameha-Kapalama completing an undefeated season with a Division I state title.

Ocean Springs boys had four losses during the 2019-2020 season, but all to out-of-state opponents -- twice to St. Paul's (La.) and once each to New Orleans Jesuit (La.) and Niceville (Fla.).

The state No. 1s this week are Sunnyside (Ariz.), Montgomery (Calif.), Doral Academy (Fla.), Punahou (Hawaii), St. Paul's (La.), Ocean Springs (Miss.) and Alief Elsik (Texas) for boys and Chaparral (Ariz.), Upland (Calif.), Montverde Academy (Fla.), Kamehameha-Kapalama (Hawaii), Northshore (La.), Gulfport (Miss.) and Tompkins (Texas) for girls.