It was a win so good, the Emporia High boys soccer team got to rush the field twice.
The Spartans remained undefeated on the season Tuesday night with a 1-0 victory over No. 3-ranked (Class 4-1A) Hayden after Juan Carlos Rangel knocked in a penalty kick with less than 2 minutes remaining in double overtime.
Rangel’s penalty kick came after the Spartans (5-0, 1-0 Centennial League) thought they had won the game just seconds earlier when Carlos Antonio appeared to score off a deflection off Hayden goalkeeper Gabe O’Shea’s hands, but the goal was taken away because Hayden’s Brian Walker touched the ball with his hands as it was going into the net.
Much to the dismay of Spartans and their fans that had rushed the field to celebrate, the teams were called back onto the field for Rangel’s penalty kick.
“It was a lot of pressure, because in the past, I’ve missed P.K.s,” Rangel said, “and I knew we had to win this.”
Rangel never hesitated with his shot, blasting a roller into the left corner of the net past the outstretched arms of O’Shea to lift Emporia to victory and set off a wild celebration on the field for the second time.
“That felt good,” Rangel said. “I was planning on going low the whole time, because (kicks) up in the air, I just don’t feel confident with them.”
The victory was a satisfying one for the Spartans simply because they had survived nearly 100 minutes of rough, physical, oftentimes violent play with the Wildcats (3-2, 2-2).
The game featured a combined 61 fouls, six yellow cards and a red card — given to Walker for touching the ball with his hands to set up Rangel’s game-winning kick. At one point in the second half, a scuffle broke out on the field after a hard foul on Emporia’s Adrian Trujillo, and after the game, many of the Spartans had blood splattered on their uniforms.
“Three pints of blood, and we’re good. We hooked up IVs on our sideline,” EHS coach Steve Pearson joked afterward. “We handled it (the physical play) well 90 percent of the time. We lost our cool a couple times, which we shouldn’t have. We let the physical part of the game get to us, and we’ve got to focus on scoring.”
Both teams battled through regulation with neither team getting any significant shots at the net, which forced Pearson to gamble a little bit and switch to a more attacking style offensively.
The Spartans played both overtimes at a frenetic pace, with almost the entire squad on Hayden’s side of the field taking shot after shot. After managing just one shot on goal through regulation, the Spartans had five in the two overtimes before Rangel’s kick.
“I told them to keep firing it forward and firing it forward,” Pearson said. “I told them, ‘Everybody take a shot if you’re near the goal ... and hope something goes in.’”
With time running out at the end of the second overtime, Emporia finally got the breakaway it wanted when Luis Ibarra got past Hayden’s defense, which pulled O’Shea out from in front of the goal. Ibarra charged O’Shea and fired off a shot, but O’Shea knocked it backward with his hands right to Antonio, who was trailing the play. Antonio lobbed a shot over O’Shea into the net, and the crowd and the players all charged the field thinking the game had been won.
But after the referees deliberated, it was determined Walker had touched the ball just before it dropped into the net.
“I told my teammates before the second overtime, ‘We have to go for everything. Give me one and I’ll put it in,’” Antonio said. “That happened, but the kid took it out with his hands.”
There was nothing to worry about, though, as Pearson chose Rangel to take the penalty kick, and he delivered to keep the Spartans’ record perfect this season.
“This was big,” Rangel said. “They played physical, but we’ve faced teams like that before, and we showed we’re a strong team.”
Emporia 1, Hayden 0 (2OT)
Tuesday at Emporia
1 2 1OT 2OT Final
Hayden 0 0 0 0 — 0
Emporia 0 0 0 1 — 1
Second Overtime
Emp — Juan Carlos Rangel (penalty kick), 98th minute.
Shots on goal — Hayden 5, Emporia 7. Saves — Hayden: Zack Hanks 1, Gabe O’Shea 5; Emporia: Spencer Anderson 5. Corner kicks — Hayden 3, Emporia 2. Fouls — Hayden 33, Emporia 28. Direct kicks — Hayden 28, Emporia 33. Yellow cards — Hayden: Aaron Rowe, Jon Kasper, Travis Roberts; Emporia: Rangel, Aaron Aleman, Adrian Trujillo. Red card — Hayden: Brian Walker.
Records — Emporia (5-0, 1-0 Centennial League), Hayden (3-2, 2-2)