Trey Parnell's second-half goal sends New Hope past Ridgeland, into first-ever state championship

RIDGELAND — New Hope soccer captain Brant Smith said he and his teammates came into Tuesday night’s MHSAA 5A North State Championship game against Ridgeland prepared for an 80-minute battle

And it’s a good thing they were ready, because that’s exactly what the Trojans got out of the Titans.

In the end, a go-ahead goal off the foot of Trey Parnell following a free kick in the 55th minute proved to be enough, as the Trojans held on to win 2-1 on a windy night at Titan Stadium.

The Trojans (15-4) will face Long Beach (16-2-1) for the 5A State Championship at 6 p.m. Saturday at Bulldog Stadium in Brandon. It’s the first trip to the boys’ soccer state championship in school history.

“We knew nothing was going to be easy tonight,” Smith said. “We know Ridgeland is a great program and they have some really good players. We just had to come out with a lot of energy, stick to the game plan and play as hard as we could to the whistle.”

The Trojans had the wind at their backs in the first half, but it was Ridgeland (17-7-1) that came with the offensive intensity out of the gate.

In the first minute of the game, Howard Morehead put in a perfect cross to senior Luis Ramirez, whose bullet-of-a-shot from the right side curled just left of the goal post.

Ridgeland had two more scoring opportunities in the first couple of minutes, but it was New Hope that broke through in the eighth minute.

Following a foul, Smith booted a beautiful, high-arching ball from 43 yards out that went over the out-stretched arms of the Ridgeland keeper and into the back of the net. Smith threw up his hands as it swished into the net, surprised as anyone else in the stadium it had gone in.

“I take all of our free kicks from that kind of distance,” Smith said. “I just tried to get it down there, and it felt good, but I was speechless when I saw it go in the net.”

So were the Titans, but they bounced back quickly.

Ramirez had another promising opportunity six minutes later, but couldn’t convert. In the 23rd minute, Titan sophomore Jared Aguilar missed wide left from the right side with the keeper out of position.

The Titans finally got the equalizer in the 32nd minute, when senior Georgenson Cardona booted a long ball to the far post right in front of Jonah Herrera, who barely needed to touch the ball to guide it into the net.

“I was proud of the way our guys responded to that early goal,” Ridgeland coach Trey Butts said. “We were frustrated tonight because we felt like we dominated most of the game — we definitely had more opportunities. We just didn’t convert enough of them.”

The Titans had a golden opportunity to take the lead during stoppage time at the end of the half, when Cardona received a perfect cross but couldn’t convert his one-on-one with the keeper, missing the frame right.

New Hope's go-ahead goal came 15 minutes into the second half, when a free kick into the box bounced around and landed at the feet of Parnell, who dribbled around a defender and finished it with his left foot.

Ridgeland played hard in the final 25 minutes, but couldn't break through the New Hope defense despite several more scoring opportunities.

"That was something we've talked about since our game Saturday against Saltillo," New Hope coach Andrew Olsen said, referencing the Trojans' 2-1 second-round playoff win last weekend. "We were in the same situation playing with the lead late and we almost blew it. Tonight, I thought we played hard all the way to the end of the game."

Now, the Trojans' attention turns to Saturday's 6 p.m. showdown with defending 5A Champion Long Beach.

"The job's not finished yet," Smith said. "But we're excited to be playing for a state championship. It's unreal."