Madison soccer coach Jeremy Young was pleased with how things went for the Mustangs on Wednesday, May 15, as they won the Region 7-1A championship with a 5-0 win over Milan.
Madison had swept the season series with the Bulldogs with similar wins of 5-1 and 4-0.
But this one was different.
“Milan came out with a different game plan – more aggressive, and I think that threw us off somewhat,” Young said. “We didn’t score as early today as we usually do – against Milan or anyone because we are typically a team that scores early.
“But we got a goal with eight minutes left in the first half.”
While the Mustangs may not have changed their game plan much to counter Milan’s new scheme, Young said they did make a few adjustments.
“We moved some guys around just to see if that might give us a spark, and it did,” Young said. “One thing that I love about this team is the versatility of a lot of the guys.
“We can move guys around and ask them to do something different than what they’ve been doing for the good of the team, and not only can they do it and do it well, but they’re willing to do it.”
Milan’s plan appeared to be to try to not allow Madison any kind of penetration near the goal with three or four guys set up at the midfield ready to take anything that came to them quickly the other way.
“We had four guys back there playing defense for us that did a great job of stopping that for the most part,” Young said.
Milan managed to get five shots on goal. Roy Macias had saves on each of them.
Austin Willett led the Mustangs offensively with a pair of goals, while Ammar Nasr, Jack Young and Harry Rowland each had a goal. Young also had three assists.
Having qualified for the region championship match, Madison was already one of the final 16 teams playing in the state.
The championship win gives the Mustangs one more home game on Saturday against the Region 8-1A runner-up. That championship was set to be played Thursday after The Post’s press time between Memphis Business Academy and Memphis RISE Academy.
The loser of that game will play against Madison in Jackson on Saturday with the winner going to Spring Fling next week. Check jacksonpost.news and The Jackson Post on Facebook for an announcement of the time of Saturday’s game and coverage heading into Spring Fling if Madison were to win.
Brandon Shields, brandon@jacksonpost.news