Madison claims another Spring Fling trip with shutout

Madison Academic’s 3-0 victory over Memphis RISE Academy in the Class A soccer sectional at University School of Jackson on Saturday secures the Mustangs their fifth consecutive trip to the state tournament and Spring Fling.

Despite the fact every member of the roster has been to the state tournament every year of their high school career, the players say they aren’t taking anything for granted.

“Going to state and competing for a state championship will never get old,” said senior Mekhi Morris. “We know it’s an honor and privilege to get there that a lot of teams never or rarely ever get to be a part of, so we’re glad to be there every year.”

Fellow senior Jack Young did admit that this year will be a little different, since the Mustangs won their first-ever state championship last year.

“Last year we won it and then lost a talented group of seniors, and coming in, I don’t know if many people thought we could get back here,” Young said. “We didn’t have a big scorer like we did last year, so we had to approach things differently this year.

“But we figured it out, won our district and region and here we are now headed back to Spring Fling.”

MRA’s strategy in the first half appeared to be more about keeping Madison from scoring than creating opportunities for itself as the ball stayed on Madison’s end of the field for most of the first 40 minutes.

“They seemed to keep everybody in pretty tight defensively to cut down on our opportunities,” said Madison coach Jeremy Young. “And it worked because we worked hard for anything we got.”

Madison did manage one goal early by junior Jossemar Marcos, but the Mustangs didn’t score again until the game’s final 15 minutes.

MRA got a little more aggressive after the half to try to tie the match, but Madison didn’t allow very many shots for the Rockets.

“My mindset doesn’t change much when the other team isn’t coming toward the goal as much because I’ve got to stay ready to stop anything at any time,” said goalkeeper Roy Macias. “But our defense does a great job stopping threats before they even get to me.”

MRA recorded four shots on goal for the entire match.

Austin Willett and Brandon Granillo recorded the other two goals for Madison to build a cushion late on the scoreboard. Willett, Marcos and Young each recorded an assist in the victory.

Up next is the Class A state quarterfinals Tuesday evening at the Siegel Soccer Complex in Murfreesboro with two games starting at 6:30 p.m. and the other two starting at 7.

Madison will find out its first opponent Sunday morning when TSSAA announces the matchups from the blind draw done then.

Brandon Shields, brandon@jacksonpost.news