CHOCOWINITY — A few inches was the difference between Southside tying or beating Farmville Central on Wednesday. The Seahawks were elated to see Jario Juarez’s shot from the right side of the penalty area dink off the inside of the far post and into the net.

It broke a 1-1 tie with just six minutes to play. Juarez’s opportunity was one of few for Southside’s offense, and one of even fewer where a clean shot was taken. Farmville Central’s speed swarmed a Seahawk attack that is still coming into its own.

“It was a feeling of relief, but also a feeling of despair thinking, ‘oh my God, we still have six minutes left,’” Southside coach Jay Petty said. “It’s relief to know that you’re going ahead, but then you look at the clock and that’s a lot of time left.”

The Seahawks got on the board early in the game. Santiago Lengyel Serralde beat Jaguar goalkeeper Alex Cullipher 10 minutes in to give his side a quick advantage.

While Southside commanded possession, it wouldn’t get many scoring chances in the first half. The visitors did well to halt buildup in the midfield and get in the way of potential shots on goal. Fluid offense is something Petty believes will come with time. He’s already seen the forwards get more comfortable with one another after each of Southside’s first six outings.

“I think it’s a chemistry issue, but it’s also an unselfishness issue,” Petty said of the forwards’ tendency to pass the ball instead of taking the shot. “At the end of the day, it’s more about the W than whether or not you scored a goal. Up to this point, they’ve done an excellent job about that.

“… They’re really not used to each other. It’s a new group of kids going forward that I didn’t have last year. They didn’t play much together last year because some of them didn’t play.”

Farmville Central nearly drew even at the end of the first half, but the shot sailed just over the goal. Then, 10 minutes into the second, sophomore forward Quashoyn Williams created a scoring opportunity of his own. Minutes later, the Jaguars finally found twine when another sophomore in Christian Sanchez beat Johan Prado.

That was the only one Prado would let past him, though. He made a play on a one-on-one chance for the Jaguars in the 62nd minute. Then, as Farmville Central attempted to tie it up in the waning moments, Prado made a sensational diving save to preserve the win.