Shot down in the dark

Fort Scott's Chris McAllister tried to get around Paola's Will Randall while having his jersey tugged during the second half of a Class 4A Regional playoff match at Ellis Park Tuesday afternoon. McAllister scored both Tiger goals but Paola prevailed in triple overtime, 3-2.
(Kenny Felt/Captured Images)

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Kreston Debrick scored from about 8 yards out just as the timer in the press box reached 105 minutes to give Paola a "golden-goal" 3-2 victory in a Class 4A Southeast Regional II playoff match at Ellis Park.

"Very disappointing loss," Fort Scott head coach David Gray said. "Can't fault the kids for their effort; they played their hearts out. It's a shame somebody has to lose a great game like that."

Had Debrick not scored, the match might not be over even as you read this. It was getting so dark that Plan A was to skip the fourth overtime had it remained tied and go directly to penalty kicks to determine the winner. The question would have been if there would have been enough light to even do that.

Would the match have been suspended? That might have been Plan B. The rule book on hand at the field didn't seem to indicate that there was a provision for doing so other than for lightning.

The Tigers (11-6) were able to force overtime even though they were not playing their best. Their only shot on goal in the first half resulted in the first goal of the game from Chris McAllister 27 minutes in.

The Tigers seemed to play well in the first 5 minutes, getting the ball well into Paola's territory while keeping the Panthers (8-9) from advancing too far themselves. But over the remainder of the half, the Panthers gained the momentum and had better possessions.

Jack Pursley scored on a penalty kick during the 34th minute to tie it for Paola. Josh Buller took a penalty kick for the Tigers in the 39th minute but it sailed over the crossbar.

That kick was symbolic for most of the day for the Tigers. Shots were a little off. Passes were a little off. The hustle was just a little short.

"We had opportunities and just couldn't capitalize," Gray noted.

Alex Hermes put Paola in front just 7 minutes into the second half. The Tigers continued to struggle. Buller had a chance to get Fort Scott tied in the 66th minute with a free kick after a foul but Paola's wall was able to block it.

Around the 72nd minute, McAllister drew a foul. Again, the Tigers could not take advantage of the free kick but the moment may have inspired some urgency. After that foul, the Tigers played with that sense that comes with knowing that if something doesn't happen quickly, the season's over.

Fort Scott was able to put that off when Griffin Hulbert found McAllister in space, who glanced one in off the right post to tie it at 2-2 just moments before the final whistle of regulation.

Overtime came. Four periods of what is called "sudden victory" overtime are played. The first two are 10 minutes each. The second two are 5 minutes.

In the 84th minute of play -- four minutes into the first OT -- Buller whistled a shot just barely wide right. Kholton Dwyer almost scored on a cross into the goal area at 87 minutes.

Pursley had a chance to win it for Paola just as the first OT was coming to a close but he lifted a free kick over the goal.

Max McAllister had a shot in the 99th minute and brother Chris followed up on the rebound off the goalkeeper, who made another save.

Darkness continued to fall and it wasn't certain if anyone could clearly see what was going on. So there's no way to be certain that the darkness factored into the success of Debrick's winning shot.

Paola advances to play the winner of Tuesday's Baldwin-Independence game Friday at Independence.

"This is not the way we wanted the season to end, but it has been a very successful year, the best in school history," Gray said. "I want to thank all the fans who showed up to support us. They were treated to an awesome game and we promise to give them more to cheer about next year."

Goalkeepers

P -- Issac Scroggie (4 saves). FS -- Brett Allen (5 saves).

Scoring

FS -- C.McAllister (unassisted), 27th min.

P -- Pursley (penalty kick), 34th min.

P -- Hermes (unassissted), 47th min.

FS -- C.McAllister 2 (Hulbert), 80th min.

P -- K.Debrick (unassisted), 105th min.