With 2 minutes and 12 seconds remaining in the second overtime period Tuesday night, the Stone Memorial Panthers finally got the winning goal in their district soccer battle with DeKalb County in Crossville.
Bryson Whitmill capped almost 100 minutes of action when he put a penalty kick past the DeKalb goalkeeper and into the back of the net to give Stone the 3-2 victory.
“I had a lot of time on that penalty kick because they were obviously trying to get this hurt player off the field,” said Whitmill. “I kept showing my eyes to the left. That way, he’s thinking I’m going left.
“So, I’m gonna go right. And from there you just get your routine, take a deep breath, take two steps back, and then hit it bottom right. I just focus on the ball and where I want to put it.”
Stone opened the match with a goal by Oliver Fuentes in the fifth minute of play. The game went back and forth through the first half, and the Panthers led 1-0 at the break.
But things weren’t over. Stone made it 2-0 when Noah Potter scored in the 44th minute of play.
DeKalb County, traditionally a soccer powerhouse, came back with two goals in the final minutes of regulation. The Tigers scored in the 74th minute and again with only 57 seconds on the clock to tie the game at 2-2 and send it into overtime.
“We got up 2-0, and I think we got a little complacent,” Whitmill said. “We can’t allow. It should have been an easier win than it was. We should have taken care of business.”
“I think we had some trouble with communication on defense,” Whitmill said. “On that first goal, no one really stepped to that man and he just got a free shot and it was a good shot. And then on the second goal, I mean, we just made a mistake.”
But Micah Grenz, the head coach at Stone Memorial, said the Panthers never wavered in the adversity.
“Stuff happens that we don’t expect, but there’s certain things we do expect,” Grenz said. “So when we came in after regulation, it’s like we still expect to win.”
Whitmill said his team has to clean up those mistakes quickly because Stone will visit Cumberland County April 11 for a huge crosstown rival match. Kickoff is set for 4 p.m.
“I would say Friday is one of the biggest games of our season for sure,” Whitmill said. “We all have friends that go there, so it’s really important just for this program. I mean, one of our teams could be 0-25, and it’d still be a massive game.”