For the 12th time, the Christian Brothers Academy boys soccer team claimed a Section III championship – but could go no further.
The no. 2 seed Brothers shared the title with no. 1 seed Fowler, as Saturday night’s Class A final at Liverpool High School Stadium ended in a 1-1 draw.
However, in the penalty-kick shoot-out to determine who advances to the state tournament, the Falcons prevailed, 4-3, earning its-ever berth in the state tournament.
They had played twice in the regular season, splitting those games. CBA gave Fowler its lone loss of the regular season on Oct. 11, a 3-2 decision that only added more spice to the title-game clash.
CBA grabbed a 1-0 lead in the first half, doing so on a free kick. From 30 yards out, Matt Marzocchi’s shot eluded numerous Fowler defenders and got past Fowler goalkeeper Abdullah Abdulkareem.
But the Brothers would get nothing more. Fowler bottled up CBA’s most dangerous player, Andrew DePerro, who had scored 30 goals this season, and by doing so, gave itself lots of time to rally.
Less than three minutes into the second half, the Falcons pulled even. Abdulkareem Abdulkareem slipped a shot past Mike Smith, who had otherwise turned away all of Fowler’s chances.
So it was 1-1 going into 30 minutes of sudden-victory overtime. Despite lots of runs, it remained even, allowing CBA and Fowler to share the sectional title, but forcing penalty kicks, five each side.
They matched misses in the first round and makes in the next two rounds. Then Abdulkareem snared the Brothers’ fourth shot, and Titan Butikima converted, putting the Falcons in front 3-2.
So it came down to the fifth shot. CBA’s Alex Chrisman was successful, but Fowler’s Vincent Ndabaruta hit a hard shot that bounced off Smith’s hands into the net, and the Faclons had won.
