By the time the ball nestled in the left side of the goal, Lake Center Christian School forward Brock Justice already had his arms raised in the air.
Justice, the leading scorer for the Tigers, put home a deflected ball in the fifth minute of overtime to give his team the 2-1 win over Canton Central Catholic in a Kent Division III sectional tournament game.
"I just saw the ball come free and went for it as hard as I could," Justice said. "I hit it well and got it in."
The goal came as junior forward Kaleb Esber pressed the attack on an attempted through ball by the Tigers that was deflected toward the goal. With the goalie out of position and pursuing the ball, Justice gained control about 25 yards out on the right wing and struck a solid shot from an awkward angle. The ball bounded once before landing in the left side of the net, advancing LCCS to a second-round game against Garrettsville.
The victory came under difficult circumstances for coach Eric Schroll and his team. Freshman goalie Danny Raines, who had started all but one game for the Tigers in the regular season, was lost to injury three days prior to the Oct. 20 tournament game.
In his place stepped sophomore Luke West, who had not played in goal for the Tigers all season long.
"I didn't really have a chance to work on preparing a backup goalie much," Schroll admitted after the game. "But Luke West did an outstanding job under a tremendous amount of pressure."
West was tested early and often by the Crusaders, who got on the board first in the game's 32nd minute on a goal by forward John Mack for a 1-0 advantage. It was an unfamiliar feeling for the Tigers at home, where they have frequently jumped out to leads early in games. Still, West wasn't rattled by giving up a goal.
"I hadn't played goalie in two years, so I knew they might get a goal or two on me," he said. "But I was confident that if they did, we could come back and match them."
That's exactly what the Tigers did, with Esber breaking ahead of the defense, collecting a nice pass from sophomore T.J. Kline and hammering a shot home from 15 yards out, near the top right corner of the box.
Esber's goal knotted the game at 1-1 and that's how it stayed for the remainder of regulation. The two teams traded scoring chances in an intense, physical second half, but both goalies were up to the challenge.
When the game went to overtime, golden goal rules came into play. Golden goal rules, also known as sudden death, meant the first team to score wins. Added to the win-or-go-home pressure of the tournament, Schroll knew he needed to focus his team and calm emotions.
"The game was intense and I could see the guys were getting a little upset, so I reminded them to do what we do well," Schroll stated. "For us, that means controlling the midfield and getting shots from our pressure."
That pressure was in full force from the opening whistle of overtime, with the Tigers controlling the ball for almost the entire five minutes of extra time. Only twice did the Crusaders push across midfield and they were not able to record a shot on goal in overtime. That set up Justice's game-winning goal, a goal that ended what had been a frustrating evening for the junior striker.
"It was hard keeping my emotions in check," Justice said. "But I knew it was what's best for the team."
That mentality was enough for the Tigers on this night in a win that truly embodied the team's "Do Work" slogan that the players adopted as their mantra at the outset of the season. "That's their motto that they came up with," Schroll said with a smile.
With the win, the Tigers improved to 9-8 on the season and kept alive their hopes for a second consecutive sectional championship. For the game, LCCS held an 8-6 edge in shots on goal, a 6-2 edge in corner kicks and receive five saves from West in goal.
