ELLISVILLE, Miss. — The No. 12 Pearl River men's soccer team gave No. 2 Jones College all that it could handle Sunday night in the Gulf District Championship game but came up short with a 1-0 loss.

"In the first half, we had a lot of time where we looked like the better team," Pearl River coach Drew Gallant said. "In the second half, they were definitely the better team. We had a few chances and couldn't put them away. We ran out of gas. We've had so many guys out sick and injured. The fact that those kids still show up and play shows the kind of culture that we've tried to build.

"We're extremely proud of the fight that these guys gave until the very end."

The Wildcats now await the announcement of the NJCAA DII National Tournament bracket to see if they did enough to receive an at-large bid. The bracket will be released Tuesday at 11:30 a.m.

"It would be great to get an at-large bid," Gallant said. "I think that we've put in a lot of great performances that would warrant us getting a bid to nationals. We took the No. 2 team down to the wire. We've been in the national rankings all season long. Hopefully, the committee takes all of that into consideration."

FIRST HALF
Maddux Francis (Poplarville) turned in a remarkable save for the Wildcats (12-4-1 overall) just four minutes into the match. Jones College (15-0) sent a ball flying into the box on a corner kick and a forward head the ball toward the goal. Francis jumped high and punched the shot attempt over the top of the crossbar and out of play.

PRCC nearly struck in the 12th minute of the night. Harper Baggett (Ocean Springs) smacked a ball from the back of the formation ahead to Durron Myers (Gulfport). On the bounce, Myers flicked the ball over his shoulder to the sprinting Alex Emery (Gulfport; West Harrison). Emery cut inside and booted a shot to the left side of the goal but it sailed just a bit too wide and out of play.

A few minutes later, Vinny Gruba (Curitiba, Brazil) brought the ball up the left wing and eventually found some space to take a cross. The ball sailed in near Emery, but the Wildcat winger couldn't get a boot on the ball.

The 24th minute saw another chance for the Wildcats. A good touch on a pass from Emery resulted in a breakaway for the goal. The Bobcat defenders recovered, so Emery held up and passed back to Christopher Dommer (Copenhagen, Denmark.). The PRCC midfielder's finesse shot curved to the left side of the goal, but the JC keeper dove and saved the shot.

The Bobcats had an opportunity to strike on the counterattack if not for a great defensive play from Brandon Elkins (Bay St. Louis; St. Stanislaus). The sophomore outside back dashed from deep down the pitch to catch up with the JC forward and end the attack.

SECOND HALF
Francis had another good showing two minutes into the second half of play. Jones College was awarded a free kick just outside of the box but another good punch of the ball by the goalkeeper prevented a Bobcat goal.

The Bobcats broke the scoreless tie in the 55th minute of play with a shot into the bottom corner of the net.

In the 62nd minute, Dommer was fed a ball from the midfield and made his way into the box. With no clear angle to shoot, he held up and attempted to pass back to a teammate, but the pass was blocked and sent out of play.

PRCC developed a few more chances down the final stretch of the contest but was unable to find the equalizer, falling 1-0.

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