THE COLONY, Texas - There isn't much that Chalres DeLong hasn't seen on the soccer field in his 47 years as Jesuit's head coach. But Tuesday's comeback to force overtime and then advance after 11 rounds of penalty kicks might be his new favorite memory.
Jesuit moved into the third round of the UIL 6A Division 2 Boys Playoffs with a 9-8 shootout win after playing Flower Mound Marcus to a 3-3 tie in regulation and overtime at Tommy Briggs Stadium at The Colony H.S..
Jesuit found itself trailing 3-1 with under three minutes remaining in its season when
Luca Shipley rifled home a one-timer from 23 yards to give the Rangers life. Then the large Jesuit fanbase got another jolt of life 47 seconds later when
Cooper McGough found a softly cleared header at his feet at the top of the box before scoring with 1:39 to play in regulation.
That's the way it stayed through two 10-minute overtime sessions, setting up a penalty kick shootout.
The teams were knotted at 4-4 after the initial five penalty kicks. They continued to match each other with successful kicks for the next four rounds. Then each team had their tenth shooter stopped. In the 11th round,
Matthew Dewers delivered a goal, setting up Marcus needing to make it to continue. The Marauder attempt went for the top of the goal but it was too high and sailed into the night, setting off a frenzied celebration next to the goal for the Rangers and students.
Jesuit improved to 19-0-2 and will face El Paso Coronado in the Region 1 semifinal on Friday at a location to be determined. It is the Rangers' 13th Area Championship.
Marcus struck first with two goals in the opening half, scoring in the 13th and 19th minutes for a 2-0 lead. Jesuit answered on a McGough goal in the 23rd minute to send the teams into the half 2-1.
The Marauders took a 3-1 lead in the 70th minute.
Sage Jones made four saves in goal.
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