Central, Jackson will meet for district title

Central and Jackson earned trips to the Class 3 District 1 boys soccer championship, posting semifinal victories on Monday in the four-team tournament at Farmington.

The two teams will square off at 6:30 p.m. in Wednesday's title game.

The top-seeded Tigers (20-5-1) hammered No. 4 Poplar Bluff 7-1, while No. 3 Jackson (11-9-2) upset No. 2 Farmington 2-1 in overtime.

Lance Altenthal recorded a hat trick and an assist to lead Central to its 20th overall victory and its fourth win over the Mules this season.

Central gained a 3-0 halftime lead on goals from Altenthal, Matt Hester and Jared Thomas in the first 20 minutes.

Altenthal scored two more goals in the first 10 minutes of the second half before Poplar Bluff scored to make it 5-1. Tyson Whiteside and Joey Hodge scored the final two goals.

Jesse Pyeatte had two assists for the Tigers, and Altenthal, Whiteside, Thomas and Hester added one apiece.

Jordan Young and Clayton Uptain recorded three saves apiece in goal for Central.

Jackson, which split a pair of games with Farmington during the regular season, went down 1-0 in the first half when a Farmington cross deflected off a Jackson player into the goal. The Indians knotted the score at 1-1 midway through the second half when Chris Crossett scored on a Josh LaForest cross.

LaForest ended the game with a goal five minutes into the sudden-death overtime on an assist from Steven McKinney.

"It was back and forth a lot," Jackson coach Zack Walton said. "Their keeper had an outstanding game, and it was going to take a good goal to win it."