The final whistle meant a collective sigh of relief for East Ridge's soccer team, which secured its place in the District 6-A/AA final with a tense 2-1 win over Howard Tuesday night.
It was a familiar scene at Camp Jordan, as both teams also met in last year's district semifinal, but this year the top-seeded Pioneers were able to avoid the upset and got their turn to celebrate.
"It feels amazing," said East Ridge senior Dee Schobert. "All the work and all the goals from the beginning of the season paid off. Last year we beat them in the regular season, and they came back and beat us in the tournament. We didn't want to repeat that."
Schobert, fresh off of his signing to play at Tennessee Wesleyan, was responsible for both of his teams' goals. The second was a late penalty kick that ultimately decided the game.
"After last year, I think everyone's hearts were pumping a little bit," Pioneers coach Jeremy McIntyre said. "It's not easy to take that pressure-filled penalty kick. He stepped up and kept his cool."
The PK came after a bizarre play in which a Howard player seemed to fall on the ball, leading to a handball being called in the box. Schobert was able to beat the diving keeper with a rocket into the right side.
Schobert's other goal came in the first half off a pass from Rijad Kazic. Kazic got the ball away just in time past a sliding Howard defender, and Schobert took care of the rest.
Howard had an opportunity to equalize on a penalty kick of its own, but keeper Tony Acuff guessed right and got a hand on the ball. He then squashed the threat altogether by smothering the rebound, and the Hustlin' Tigers would have to wait, going into halftime down 1-0.
"That save was huge," McIntyre said. "They didn't make it easy on us. They were putting a lot of pressure on us, and I think in that first half they were dominating 50/50 balls. In the second half, we started to play a little faster and gave ourselves more opportunities. It was an emotional game with two tough teams going head to head."
The resilient Howard squad continued to attack and ultimately earned another shot from the penalty spot. Sergio Marcos stepped up and froze the keeper to draw his team even.
The Hustlin' Tigers hurriedly tried to equalize again after losing the lead a second time, but the Pioneers were able to calmly keep the ball away from the goal and didn't let their opponents get another shot off.
"Our team has come a long, long way," said first-year Howard coach Curtis Warner. "They had leaders quit, they had to learn how to play together, and they went from individuals to a family. You have no idea how far they've come. They come from adversity. They put their hearts out there and played as a team."
Howard was trying for a district finals bid for the second year in a row, which happens to also be its second full season as a program. Things look positive, as the program continued to grow, adding a JV team this year.
"We had 14 kids last year, and this year we had 40," Warner said. "We've built a staff and are building a program to go into the summer, so these kids can learn to play with each other."
East Ridge also has forward momentum building and will play for the district title Thursday.
Contact Idris Garcia at sports@timesfreepress.com.