It came down to penalty kicks for both the Islands and Savannah Arts boys soccer teams on Friday night and each team pulled out victories to earn spots in the GHSA state finals — a first for both programs.
Islands came out on top of visiting Jefferson after a scoreless battle through regulation and two overtimes, winning 4-3 on PKs as the crowd at the Shark Tank erupted in a raucous celebration. Islands improved to 21-2 on the season and will face East Hall (13-8) at Duluth High School on Tuesday, May12th, at 7:30 p.m.
Savannah Arts went on the road and the Panthers beat Columbus, the top ranked team in Class 2A in the GHSA Post Season Power Rankings, in sudden death on PKs, after being tied 1-1 through regulation and overtime. Savannah Arts (16-6) will face region rival Pierce County (14-5) on Wednesday, May 13th, at St. Pius X in Atlanta at 7:30 p.m.
Islands had a defensive battle with Jefferson, a team that knocked the host Sharks out last year in the quarterfinals with a 1-0 victory.
The Sharks had their chances, but Jefferson was a strong opponent that didn’t wilt under pressure.
It came down PKs and Islands switched keepers from junior Isaac Schultz, who had the shutout through regulation and overtime, to senior Larkham Reidlinger, who is known for his strong play in net against penalty kicks.
Jefferson keeper Caleb Farris made the first save, diving to his left to save a penalty kick from Colt Lawhorn, but Jefferson’s Christian Bowman missed the next kick up high as things evened out.
Reidlinger came through with a diving save to his left on the fifth PK by Jefferson’s Andrew Sorah, which set up Islands sophomore Andrew McLaughlin, who snuck one by Farris for the game winner.
“It wasn’t the prettiest kick, but it got the job done,” McLaughlin said. “This was special for us because we’re the first team from Islands to ever make it to the state championship game. We played a great game for two hours, and I’m just blessed to be part of this team.”
Islands coach Justin Brantley managed his squad with a cool, calm demeanor during a stressful match and his team became the first in any sport at Islands to earn a berth in a state championship game.
“Coming into this game, we have played Georgia Military College which is in the Final Four in Class A, we played Savannah Arts, which is in the finals in Class 2A, and River Ridge, which is in the Final Four in 5A and we won them all,” said Brantley, in his fifth year leading the program. “So we’ve face really good competition all season long, so that when we play games like this — we can step up and do the job.”
Senior Julian Roma is one of the leaders of the Sharks back line, and he was instrumental in the victory.
“Jefferson was a lot bigger than us, so that was one of the challenges we had,” Roma said. “We were shorter, so we had to move the ball well to get around them. This means everything, we made history tonight. Now we want to win the state championship.”
Savannah Arts has the well-earned reputation as a squad that knows how to pull out games that come down to the wire. The Panthers won their second round playoff game over Appling County on penalty kicks, after scoring the equalizer in the final minutes of regulation.
Then the Panthers got a goal from freshman Theo Cohen in the final two minutes to beat defending state champion Drew Charter in the quarterfinals.
Savannah Arts hit the road for a round trip of more than eight hours to Columbus High and pulled out another unforgettable victory.
Mercer Manley got the Panthers on the board with a first-half goal and the match was tied at 1-1 at intermission.
Coach Ben Parker, in his sixth season leading the program, said Columbus has a very big field, which played to his team’s advantage as they were able to find space, possess the ball well and slow down the tempo of the game.
“This was the best game we played all season,” Parker said in a phone interview after the game. “We played extremely well, and we needed to because Columbus is a big team, with a lot of technical ability.”
After a scoreless overtime, the first round of penalty kicks was still tied — leading to a sudden death penalty kick situation.
Junior Alex Harkness converted for the Panthers and then senior keeper Martin Melich saved the next shot as the Panthers went into celebration mode.
“We went crazy,” Parker said. “The kids have never been in that situation and we were all so happy.”
Now the Panthers will face a familiar foe in region rival Pierce County, a team they have beat in two previous meeting this season by scored of 1-0 and 2-0.
Dennis Knight covers sports for the Savannah Morning News. Contact him at Dknight@savannahnow.com. Twitter: @DennisKnightSMN
This article originally appeared on Savannah Morning News: Islands and Savannah Arts boys soccer teams reach state finals for first time