Southside High School’s Panthers’ soccer team took full advantage of its golden opportunity in overtime Class 6A State Soccer semifinals at John Hunt Soccer Park at the Loretta O. Spencer Sports Complex.
Southside senior forward Camren Thompson, who gave the Panthers a 2-0 with the first goal of the semifinals 18 minutes into the first half. He nailed his second goal at the 54:53 mark.
Gardendale, however, clawed back with two goals by Mikey Pribyl – the final Rockets score coming just before the end of the second half to send the two teams into overtime.
Thompson closed out the overtime fast making a slick move on the right side of the field at John Hunt Park. He then streaked toward the Rockets’ goal, making two amazing shifts to get back two defenders. He then moved the ball to his right foot and kicked the winning kick past the keeper into the left side of the net for the golden goal to end the match.
The play was perhaps the most impressive of a very exciting day of championship play in classes 6A and 7A. Three matches went to overtime, and two finished in shootouts from mark.
Southside (21-5-1), coached by Randy Vice, advances to Saturday’s Class 6A boys’ championship match to face Spanish Fort. The Toros downed Chelsea 2-1. Both teams will be seeking their first state boys’ soccer crowns.
Gardendale (20-4-2), coached by Miller Wood, closed out its most successful boys’ season in school history with a valiant effort. Keeper Cooper Thomas had five saves, and the Rockets’ offense had 11 shots on goals and limited the Panthers to just seven.
Championship matches for Classes 1A/3A, 4A and 5A are scheduled for Friday, and the Class 6A and 7A finals close out the AHSAA’s 34th State Soccer Championships Saturday.
All championship matches in each classification are being live video streamed over the NFHS Network’s subscriber-based platform.
Spanish Fort 2, Chelsea 1
Spanish Fort’s boys’ soccer team made the most of their two shots on goal – both by senior Ethan Spuler – as the Toros eased past Chelsea 2-1 to clinch the other berth in Saturday’s Class 6A state boys’ finals at John Hunt Park.
Chelsea (20-5-0), coached by Lee Miller, scored first in Thursday’s semifinal match with Luke Miller taking a feed from Parker Dean and drilling it into the net for the Hornets, who had a 1-0 lead just six minutes into the contest.
Spuler’s first goal tied the score at 36:21 in the opening half for Toros (21-3-4), coached by Jason Bauer. His final goal came at the 65:56 mark.
Spanish Fort goalkeeper Brice Krot had four saves to help seal the win. Both defenses didn’t give either side many openings the rest of the way. The Class 6A state finals are scheduled for 11:30 a.m. Saturday.
Spanish Fort and Southside will both be seeking their first state boys’ soccer title.
