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All season long, Central Mountain boys soccer coach Billy Hook harped on how special the seniors the senior his team were. The words Hook spoke rang true Monday night in the District 6 Class AAA semifinals as thanks to seniors Evan Cross and Clayton Foster, the Wildcats managed to upset second-seeded Bellefonte.
Foster's game-winning goal, assisted by Cross in overtime, was the lone goal scored in the game as Central Mountain won, 1-0.
"I've talked all year how great the senior class has been. They've been phenomenal. They're great kids and to get that as a senior in a district playoff game is stuff you've dreamed about and hoped for," Hook said following his team's monumental victory at Bellefonte.
Hook knew to slay the Raiders and advance to the finals; his team would need to play their best game of the season and compete with the well-rounded Bellefonte squad. He noted Central Mountain's past games this season helped his team tonight.
"Yeah looking at their record, we knew we we're going to have to come in and show up. They moved the ball really well early on--they are fast--they're an athletic team. But fortunately, we've seen a quite a bit of speed this year and we were able to settle in," he said.
The game's first half was battle of two stout defensive performances from the Wildcats and the Raiders.
Central Mountain had a golden opportunity to break the scoreless tie just minutes into action. Senior Clay Foster--who entered Monday with five goals scored on the season--was inches away from finding the back of the net. Instead, Bellefonte's senior keeper Quinn Tooker snatched the moving ball.
Raiders' forward Hayden Walker later had a shot to put Bellefonte on the board as the senior just sailed the ball over the top of an empty Central Mountain net. Walker was presented with another chance moments later but this time his attempt hit the crossbar and deflected away.
The Wildcats held off Bellefonte's speedy offensive attack which resulted in some solid looks on their offense. The most notable was a PK attempt near the 31-minute mark of the match. Brinker's shot ultimately was unsuccessful as it sailed over the crossbar.
As both teams marched off the field at halftime, the game was anyone's with the scoreboard reading 0-0.
The first 20 minutes of the second half mirrored the entire first half. Bellefonte's offense had chances to score but was unable too. The "underdog" Wildcats were holding their own against the 11-win Raiders.
For the majority of the second half, Bellefonte controlled the pace of play and dominated the time of possession battle. Central Mountain's keeper Clay Confer continued to fend off the Bellefonte shots as time ticked down.
After the second consecutive hard-fought 40-minute period, it was time for overtime.
Just minutes into the sudden death overtime was when Foster made his mark on the game. The senior gathered Cross's pass from the right side and rocketed the ball into the back of the net for the game-winner.
"I thought it was the greatest thing ever," Foster said as a smile stretched across the senior's face following his unforgettable goal. "It's a dream to for all of us, to do this and come to districts and win our first semifinal game and make the finals. Hopefully we can pull out another one. I think coming in we all knew coming into it if we all worked hard enough, we could win. We've been preparing all week for this."
According to Hook, Foster's dagger was the product of a relentless effort put forward by his team. They refused to surrender despite being outshot in attempts at goal.
"Bellefonte played awesome, and we matched it. The biggest thing we kept saying was to keep buying and keep playing 80 minutes regardless of the saves and how many times we don't score. Just believe that one of them will go, and one finally did," Hook said.
As for the Raiders--who had their season end where they had tremendous success this fall--Monday's loss marked just their fourth loss. The gut-wrenching loss underneath the lights wasn't all bad for Bellefonte according to its coach Scott Martz.
He called it one of the more memorable contests the Raiders played in all season.
"Overall, I thought that it was one of the best soccer games we were a part of all year. That was a classic game. I thought we came in a little slow than we settled in a bit," Martz said. "We got our passing game working. We had opportunities and they had opportunities. We just couldn't finish, and they finished in overtime. That was a fun game to be a part of."
Bellefonte's may not have ended the way Martz and company may had imagined, but it was a season to remember. The Raiders won seven of its last eight to end the regular season.
"I think our seniors really stepped up and played well this year and some underclassmen really played well. They're going to make the transition next year really easy for us, a lot of the young guys got some experience this year."
Central Mountain 1, Bellefonte 0
CM-Clayton Foster, 86:01.
Shots: CM 3, B 4. Saves: CM 4 (Clay Confer), B 2 (Quinn Tooker).