The players from both Boyd-Buchanan and Murfreesboro Central Magnet were physically and emotionally drained by the time Saturday night's Class A/AA state soccer sectional had reached the 108th minute in what developed into a sudden-death-overtime classic match.
The visiting Tigers, who had mounted increasing pressure on the Buccaneers during the final overtime period, lined up for what they knew might be the last corner kick of the match. At that moment, Tigers junior midfielder Finn Mullen felt a final burst of energy and sensed an opportunity.
Finding a loose ball that had deflected off the corner kick, Mullen struck the ball that sent Central Magnet to the TSSAA Spring Fling with a 1-0 victory.
The Bucs, who lose one senior from their roster, immediately fell to the ground in agony -- having fallen to the Tigers in a sectional for a second straight year. They were less than 120 seconds away from a second postseason penalty-kick shootout.
Mullen and his teammates were equally exhausted, but they were charged with the elation that their season would be continuing this week at the state tournament.
"We have practiced corners all season and it's been a strong suit for us. If we were going to score, we knew it would probably be off a corner," Mullen said. "I could feel the 'chi' flowing through my body. I saw the keeper to the right and I hit it to the left.
"It was just a little bit of an opening, but it was there," he added. "It was there in the 108th minute and we were able to finish it. We matched up opportunities with each other tonight pretty well. They had almost as many opportunities as we did, and they were really tough."
Both teams had handfuls of near-miss chances, including shots sliding wide of open nets and the ringing clanks of shots hitting the posts and crossbars. Bucs midfielder Will Boyaton made the stop of the match when he covered an opening at the net during the first five-minute, sudden-death OT period and chested a shot away from the goal.
Will Greer, Ross Wortman and John Barber provided strength on the Bucs' backline, limiting the Tigers to four shots in the first half and 10 for regulation. The counterpart defense of Will Vermillio, Jordan Scango and Ryan Cornelison kept the Bucs' chances in check throughout regulation and in overtime.
Offensively, Zavier Phillips led most of the rushes for the Tigers (18-2-2), while Donald Ingram, lone senior Hunter Bradford and eighth-grader Hayes Wood mounted the offensive pressure for the Bucs (14-4-3).
"Boyd made us work harder than we have all season," said Central Magnet coach Ray Bennett. "I am very grateful for the opportunity to be advancing, and Boyd deserved to be going with us. It's just unfortunate that only one team moves on. But I am so grateful for the way it ended."
"Central Magnet is a great team," said Boyd-Buchanan co-coach Dustin Walker. "We wanted it for our boys and our boys wanted it bad. It's horrible that one team has to lose that game when it goes back and forth like that.
"Most of our guys are young and we have a little more work to do to get to where we want to be," he added. "But I think we are close. We've got a great group of guys who play with a lot of heart, and we are excited about next year. We would have loved for it to be this year for these guys. We want them to have that opportunity. It just didn't happen for us tonight."
Central's Bennett also was happy that his wife made the decision to stay home rather than travel and watch what became a thrilling match played with the intensity of a state final.
"I'm grateful that a game like this didn't end in PKs, but I'm also grateful that my wife wasn't here," Bennett said. "She's nine months pregnant. I believe she would have had our baby today."
Contact Greg Thompson at gthompson@timesfreepress.com.