Written by Jeremy Stewart, Rome News-Tribune Sports Writer
Darlington head boys soccer coach Kevin Ivester’s emotions ran deep on Thursday evening as he stood on the pitch at Neville Soccer Fields. After more than 20 years of waiting, a season’s worth of success and a game’s worth of frustrations came out in one soft-spoken chant: “We finally did it. We finally did it.”
After fighting tooth and nail with No. 5 Pace Academy to kick off the Class AA state playoffs, Darlington punched their ticket to the second round by winning a marathon shootout and taking the game 2-1. “It just means everything to us to win a game in the state tournament,” a somber Ivester said.
It had been a while since the Tigers, the Area 14 A/AA champions, had won a state playoff game and Ivester was a senior on Darlington’s team when they last went deep into the postseason in the late 1980’s. “When I was a senior here, we made it to the state semifinals and I always tell the guys that I want them to know what that feels like,” Ivester said.
In the end, Tyson Betts came through for the home team as he placed the game-winning penalty kick over Pace keeper Pearse Haley and in the back of the net. He was the eighth kicker for Darlington in the sudden death round. “We knew we had practiced penalty kicks and our keeper Cris (Lowe) had practiced it,” Ivester said. “I just didn’t think it would go to eight. But when it got there, Tyson said, ‘I got this one, coach,’” he continued. “And you could just see the look in his eyes.”
The two teams seemed to counter one another’s intensity throughout the match with more aggressiveness and determination. Pace (7-4-2) took the lead first with a goal in the first half by DJ Edler that was just missed by Lowe. Then the Tigers (11-2-1) tied it up in the second half when Cody Anderson scored on a pass from Will Orr.
Darlington then took a hard-nosed attempt at getting on top during the final 15 minutes of the contest, setting up a number of opportunities. “We felt like we really took control in the last 10 minutes of the game,” Ivester said. “But give their goalie some credit, he made some amazing saves there at the end.”
After two five-minute overtimes ended with the score still 1-1, the two teams matched each other in penalty kicks until both teams had six apiece. Orr, Anderson, Thomas Kuckhoff, Jeff Grizzard, Andy Montgomery and Justin Smith all made penalty kicks for the Tigers. Pace then missed two and Darlington missed one before Betts stepped up and captured the win.
The Tigers will play the winner of Paideia-Holy Innocents’ next Tuesday. The time and place are yet to be determined.
