RIDGEFIELD — Eighty minutes plus an extra 10 of sudden death overtime were not enough to decide the Class 2A District 4 soccer championships Thursday night between Hockinson and 2A Greater St. Helens League champion Ridgefield.
The Hockinson Hawks won their first ever district tournament title, defeating the Spudders 2-1 after a 4-2 penalty kick shootout.
“I’ve been waiting four years for this, this is the best feeling ever,” Hockinson striker Mitchell Pinney said. “We got to this last year, and we lost and everybody played their hearts out.”
Hawks goalkeeper Jack Bloss blocked Ridgefield’s first attempt in the shootout, which set the tone for the rest of it.
The Hawks were the aggressors early though they kept five players back in defense for the majority of the game.
With about three minutes left in the half, Ridgefield was given a golden opportunity after taking control of the match after the first 20 minutes.
A clever ball played by Ridgefield’s Max Hauser went across the penalty box as Max VanArnam charged towards it. Hockinson’s Ben Robinson appeared to touch the ball first but VanArnam went down in the box and was awarded a penalty.
Liam Knoeppel put the Spudders up 1-0 by finishing the penalty, a lead which they carried into the intermission.
Hockinson, having comeback from a 1-0 halftime deficit in their win Tuesday over R.A. Long, had their answer midway through the second half.
“We were upset about the goal at the half, but we came back in and we had to play with intensity and possess the ball,” Bloss said. “I’ve never seen the energy that we had tonight come through for a whole second half.”
A furious run from Jared O’Dell down the right wing set up the equalizer, in which he looked to cross the ball, but mistimed his pass though Ridgefield failed to clear the ball.
It wound up at the feet of Hockinson’s Nicolas Manesh who ripped the ball and placed it inside the right post for the goal with 24 minutes left in the second half.
Neither team made much noise in the first overtime period while both traded shots on goal in the final moments of the second overtime.
Hockinson won despite losing both regular season meetings against the Spudders.
