Ole Brook soccer coach Kevin Bower was so fired up forThursday’s game with the Terry Bulldogs, that he skipped hisevening meal. In a long-awaited makeup game, Bower’s Panthersdefeated Terry 3-2 and clinched the Division 7-4A championship onKing Field.

“I’ve been looking forward to this game all week,” said Bower.”I hated it when we had to postpone it,” because of a severethunderstorm Jan. 7. The varsity girls game had been halted athalftime and Terry was awarded a 1-0 victory.

The Panthers improved their record to 15-2-2 overall and 8-1 inthe division. They’ll host Laurel Tuesday in the first round of thestate playoffs.

Terry fell to 11-6 overall and 8-2 in the division. The Bulldogsmust travel to Petal Tuesday for first round playoff action.

Brookhaven took a 2-0 halftime lead and was up 3-1 when seniorforward Guy Orr scored on an assist from left-midfielder JonathanDavey in the 62nd minute.

Davey also provided an assist in the first half when seniorforward Tyler Alexander scored in the 39th minute. Juniorcenter-defender Nason Stephens netted Ole Brook’s first goal on apenalty kick in the 23rd minute.

“This is our biggest win this year,” said Bower. “We keptpressure on Terry with our defense and our offense. I told ourdefenders to put pressure on whoever had the ball.

“Nason did a good job holding our defense together,” Boweradded. Panther goal keeper Thomas Nguyen provided 17 saves.

The victory avenged a 5-3 loss in the mud and rain at Terry.

“Terry has a real good keeper,” said Bower. Bulldog senior AdamCook was credited with 17 saves.

In a fast-paced second half, the Panthers kept the heat onTerry. Ole Brook’s Orr and Stephens both launched shots whichsailed over the goal in a 10-minute span of the second half. GilesLangston was wide left on another try.

Terry scored its second goal on a throw-in from senior forwardJess Shelby to sophomore Teddy Neese with 20:09 left in the match.The Bulldogs scored their first goal on sophomore Ethan Brown’skick. Freshman Ryan Weaver provided an assist.

Terry head coach Ron Regan saw his team receive 3 yellow cardsin the last 14 minutes of the game. Regan informed referee ClydeSbravati that he planned to file a formal protest with theMississippi High School Activities Association.

“Give Brookhaven credit. They played a great game,” said Regan.”We seem to always have trouble with the referees when we come downhere to play.”

With 8:40 left on the clock, Nguyen made his second save off asecond Terry corner kick in a 2-minute span.

The Panthers continued their offensive heat. Giles Langston andOrr were both wide left on scoring attempts in the final 5 minutesof the game.