Phoenix get late OT goal, down Calhoun in PK shootout
some momentum. After three successful PKs in a row from both sides, Calhoun goalkeeper Jame Vo came up with a save of his own to give the Jackets a chance to tie and force extra kicks. Calhoun’s Daniel Isep did just that by converting on the fifth attempt.
The teams went kick for kick after that in sudden death fashion with Sonoraville making four in a row and Calhoun answering with three before Moore’s second save in the shootout on the Jackets’ ninth attempt gave the Phoenix the hard-fought, well-earned victory.
“I haven’t ever seen a high school game like that,” said Sonoraville coach Hector Holguin. “We know Calhoun always plays us tough. When we play each other, no matter what the records are, we know it is going to be hard-fought. Both teams fought til the very end tonight, and I’m glad we were able to be on the winning side of it.
“Lane was definitely clutch with those saves. And our other goalkeeper Adam (Schwartz) made a big save on a penalty kick in the first half. We’ve got two really good goalkeepers that we can use. We haven’t been good in penalty kicks over the last two seasons. I think we were something like 0-5 in shootouts last season. This year we’ve been working on it a lot, and we even practiced them yesterday. It’s good to finally win one and give our guys some confidence if we have to be in a shootout again.”
The game opened with both teams striking quickly in the first 10 minutes. Sonoraville went up 1-0 on a goal by Jacob Brookshire off a corner kick by Alex Salgado for the assist. Calhoun (8-5-1, 5-2) answered right back to tie it up a few minutes later on an Oscar Huerta goal to put the score at 1-1.
Sonoraville jumped back ahead in the 19th minute when Dawson Holbrook gathered a loose ball in the box and sent it into the back of the net for a goal to make it 2-1.
That was where the score stayed until midway through the second half when Calhoun was awarded a penalty kick, which Elmer Gutierrez converted to tie the game at 2-2. Despite a few good chances for both teams down the stretch in the second half, neither was able to convert one into a goal to send the game into overtime.
In the third minute of the first overtime period, Gutierrez came through for his second goal of the contest after finding a loose ball in the box and kicking it into the back of the net.
The Jackets looked as if they were going to hold on for the overtime victory after Sonoraville missed a few scoring chances early in the second overtime period, but the Phoenix never quit and were able to manufacture a clutch goal in the final minute of overtime. Salgado made the long throwin, and Maurilio Segura headed the ball in to tie the contest at 3-3. Tempers flared following the goal, and Calhoun starting goalkeeper Eduardo Fajardo and Sonoraville’s Segura each received a red card, which forced Vo into emergency action in goal for the Jackets in the shootout.
Converting penalty kicks for Sonoraville in order was Yorlin Piedrasanta, Braden Camp, Holbrook, Brian Jacobo, Alex Casarez, Jacob Brookshire, Eduardo Cortez and Santos Samano. Calhoun’s converted PKs came from (in order) Irvin Campos, Johnathan Castillo, Andy Echeverria, Isep, Gutierrez, Huerta and Alex Aguilar.
“(Sonoraville) is a good team, and we knew it was going to be a battle,” said Calhoun coach Matt Rice. “I’m proud of the way we played and fought back in the second half. Any time you go to penalty kicks it can be the luck of the draw, and they made one more than we did.
“We’ve got two more region games, and that is where the focus is going to be now. We’ve just got to move on from this and try to finish strong. If we win out, we can still get a good seed in the state tournament.”
Sonoraville and Calhoun both entered the final week of the regular season with their postseason fate still up in the air as several different scenarios could play out. The Phoenix were on the road on Tuesday to close out the regular season with a non-region test at Allatoona. Calhoun was also on the road at Cass for a non-region contest on Tuesday. Calhoun will visit Adairsville on Thursday at 7 p.m. and host North Murray on Friday at 6 p.m. to finish up their region schedule and regular season.