Brandon Bulldogs named to the 13th Annual MaxPreps Tour of Champions presented by the Army National Guard

MaxPreps is pleased to announce that the Brandon (Miss.) Bulldogs have officially been named to the 13th Annual MaxPreps Soccer Tour of Champions presented by the Army National Guard, which is in its seventh year honoring girls soccer.

This is one of the most prestigious team awards in all of high school sports and it is an exclusive honor reserved for 100 of the top teams nationwide. In order to be eligible, a team must win a state championship and be highly ranked in the MaxPreps National Rankings. For soccer, only 20 of the country's best are invited and with nearly 34,000 competing varsity teams, this puts the Bulldogs ahead of 99.9 percent of their opponents!

In order to be eligible, the team not only had to be nationally ranked, but also had to win a state championship. Beating Northwest Rankin 1-0 on Saturday, Feb. 17 in the MHSAA Class 6A state championship contest marked the completion of an incredible 18-2-3 season — and earned Brandon an invitation to the Tour of Champions.

Jocelyn Jones scored the title game's lone goal 17 minutes into the contest and the Bulldogs gave it everything they had in sealing Brandon's first girls state soccer championship since 2012, the school's second overall. Emily Easterling fed Jones the ball and Brandon's MaxPreps Player of the Year flew by the Northwest Rankin defense, broke into the open field and booted the ball into the back of the net.

Sadie Stocks posted her 13th shutout of the year and earned her 17th win in goal. Jones led the Bulldogs with three shots in the contest, while Easterling, Zoe Ellis and Callie Minshew were all credited with a shot each. Easterling earned the game's only assist.

Brandon opened playoff competition with a 4-0 win over St. Martin and then kicked in the door to the Final Four with a 3-0 shutout of Gulfport. The Bulldogs, who outscored four playoff foes 11-3, then bumped Oak Grove from state championship contention with a 3-3 (3-0) semifinal victory to set up the championship bout with Northwest Rankin.

Jeremy Shortt's club opened the season with a 1-0 loss to Madison Central before reeling off six wins in its next seven matches to improve to 6-1-1 on the year. Following a 1-0 regular season loss to Northwest Rankin, Brandon won 12 of its final 14 contests. The Bulldogs outscored their competition 87-13 and posted 14 shutouts in 2017-18. Brandon held 20 foes to one goal or less. Having won six straight contests to end the season, the Bulldogs set themselves up for some rather high rankings come season's end. Not only did Brandon end the year with the No. 2 ranking in Mississippi's Class 6A, the Bulldogs are the second best team in all of Mississippi. Brandon is currently ranked No. 12 in MaxPreps' National Rankings!

These incredible season achievements have earned the Brandon Bulldogs an invitation to the 13th Annual Tour of Champions. Please join us in the Multipurpose Room for an assembly as we celebrate with the girls soccer team, coaching staff, students and fans on Tuesday, Apr. 24 at 12 p.m.

For more information about the Tour of Champions, please visit the MaxPreps Tour of Champions site.