Indians beat Hinds, earn home playoff match
Adam Gore/LetsGoICC.com

FULTON, MS – Neither Hinds or Mother Nature could stop ICC from locking up the No. 2 seed in next week's MACJC playoffs on a Friday night in Fulton.

"It's a relief," Coach Mike Sullivan said after the Indians (13-3, 5-3 MACJC North) picked up a 4-0 win over the Eagles. "It's never a good feeling knowing you have to beat a really good team to get a home playoff match, but to have to keep looking over your shoulder to see the sun setting and feeling like the clock was barely moving just adds a whole new level of stress to your day."

The start of the match was delayed nearly two hours after Hinds had bus issues on the way to Fulton and according to MACJC rules the match had to eclipse the 70-minute mark before it could be counted as an official match.

If not, then the two teams would have to start from scratch at some point over the weekend due to the Indians not having lights on the field.  

Blake Lashlee (Olive Branch) wasted little time getting things going for the Indians.

The freshman got things rolling early scoring off an assist from Anthony Fernandez (New Albany) to give the Indians a 1-0 lead in the opening minutes of the match.

"We needed to come out and set the tone early and I felt like we were able to establish our game plan and control the match from the start," said Sullivan.

Fernandez extended the lead to 2-0 off an assist from Kit Huddleston (Tupelo) before goals by Huddleston and Evan Thomas (Amory) put the match away as ICC cruised to the 4-0 victory after the match was called due to darkness in the 71st minute.  

"This was a big win for us," commented Sullivan. "We let the match get away from us at their place, but I was happy to see how the guys bounced back with a lot of determination to take care of business here at home."

The Indians (13-3, 5-3 MACJC North) enter next week's playoffs as the No. 2 seed out of the North Division and will host Jones County Junior College on Tuesday, October 28 at 2:00 p.m. in MACJC Quarterfinals.

"It's a whole new season for us now," said Sullivan. "It's win or go home. Hopefully the guys will play with the same level of urgency as they played with tonight and see if we can't make a run at the state championship."

For more information on ICC soccer, follow ICC Athletics on Twitter (@LetsGoICC).