Nov. 15 - Quarterfinal Recap
by Admin on 11/15/21
We had to wait a whole week for games, but Saturday was definitely worth that wait. Nine of the 16 games were decided by a goal and four others were 1-goal affairs until late in the second half. Another game was a 2-1 game at half. Two penalty kick shootouts decided games, while another featured FOUR penalties in the run of play. Yet another had a golden goal decide it in OT from a team used to winning those kind of games.
Home teams took advantage of that factor - winning 11 of the 16 matches. The home team factor is arguably a tough one for all involved - mainly because its random district placement matched with the calendar year basically means that hosting is the luck of the draw. Based on updated MPR rankings, seven of Saturday’s matches would qualify as upsets, with three of those upsets coming at the home field of the lower ranked team. Ladue’s win at Mehlville, Excelsior Springs win at Logan-Rogersville and Maryville’s win at Smithton were true road upsets combining lower MPR and playing at a higher ranked team. Harrisonville, Van Horn, John Burroughs and Jackson all won upsets at home, with Jackson’s -5104 MPR being the biggest statistically and one of only 9 wins in the whole tournament with a score of over .5000. Fair Grove was a solid favorite (+.5281) and won at Laquey, while Blue Springs (+.0054) had a minuscule edge and won on the road.
Class 1
Brentwood (10) at St. Pius X (Festus) (3) (+.32) St. Pius X, 7-1.
A late season run from Brentwood wasn’t enough to hold off St. Pius as the Lancers nearly equaled the in-season game with a comfortable 7-1 win. Pius (17-6) will be looking to make its first final with coach Aaron Portell after making five previous final four appearances (four 3rds and fourth) under Hall of Fame coach Dan Bokern, the namesake of the St. Pius home field where the Lancers won Saturday.
Fair Grove (12) (+.46) at Laquey (24) Fair Grove, 2-0
Fair Grove (15-8) took advantage of an early goal off a rebound to eliminate Laquey for the second consecutive year. A second goal with 28 minutes to play gave the Eagles and first year coach Krista Miller some breathing room and sends them into its second final four. Laquey ends at 10-14-1.
St. Francis Borgia (19) at Lutheran St. Charles (1) (+1.14) Lutheran St. Charles 2-1 (3-1 PK)
High drama in St. Charles as the top seeded Cougars (20-5-1) advanced in a penalty kick shootout. LSC had a 1-0 lead at half, but Borgia (5-19) got the equalizer with just under 16 to play, sending the game into two 15 minute OTs and eventually penalties, where LSC advanced with a 3-1 differential. A classic case of a team getting hot at the end, Borgia nearly pulled off the upset. LSC makes its first final four.
Maryville (4) at Smithton (2) (+.20) Maryville 1-0
Class 1’s closest (on paper) quarterfinal didn’t disappoint. Maryville had a last second first half goal nullified as it came after the clock went to 0:00, but managed to find the net with six minutes to play to send the Spoofhounds and coach Jesus Gonzalez (15-5-1) to its first final four. Host Smithton suffered its first loss - finishing 23-1.
Class 2
St. Mary’s (11) at Perryville (3) (+.46) Perryville, 6-1
Perryville’s (22-3) high-scoring offense finally wore down St. Mary’s (11-8-1) in the second half, scoring four times to pull away from a 2-1 halftime edge. The Pirates return to Soccer Park for the first time since finishing 2nd in 2015 and winning Class 2 in 2014, the first year of having four classes.
Christian (27) at Whitfield (1) (+1.13) Whitfield, 6-0
The top overall team in Class 2 rolled to an easy quarter win at home. The Warriors (17-5) will be looking for their 8th title and first since 2010 after losing the Class 1 final 1-0 last year. Christian’s (11-11) Cinderella run ends after a wild district week.
Excelsior Springs (9) at Logan-Rogersville (5) (+.17) Excelsior Springs 3-2 (PK)
What looked like a toss-up game on paper proved to be exactly that. Host L-R (19-5) took a 1-0 lead 13 minutes into the game, but Excelsior Springs knotted it early in the second half only to see LR score again on a penalty. ES got the equalizer with 17 minutes to play after a long restart and mad scramble in the box that forced the extra sessions that eventually went to penalties where the Tigers (18-5) advanced for the first time since finishing 2nd in 2004.
Chillicothe (8) (+.54) at Harrisonville (21) Harrisonville, 1-0
Another nail-biter in Harrisonville where the host team punched in the decisive goal with just over 8 minutes left. The Wildcats (10-10-1) move on for the first time since 2017’s fourth place team, while Chillicothe’s historic season ends at 20-4.
Class 3
Ladue (6) at Mehlville (3) (+26) Ladue, 2-0
A long wait finally ended Saturday with the Rams (22-6-1) decision over Mehlville (18-3-1). Ladue gets over the quarterfinal hump in its 10th appearance with a huge road win over a Mehlville squad that had been top ranked earlier in the year. Ladue entered the playoffs on a two-game losing slide (and three of four), but righted the ship in what’s been a tense, but ultimately rewarding, postseason for Coach Dave Aronberg’s squad.
Neosho (8) at Glendale (2) (+.48) Glendale, 3-2
Glendale (25-3) seemed to have this one wrapped up early in the second half when it got out to a 3-0 lead, but Neosho (14-5) refused to quit and got to within 3-2 with 12 minutes to play. The Falcons held on for its second consecutive 3-2 win in the playoffs that featured early Glendale leads and late drama. Glendale’s win is the third in the past four seasons against Neosho in the playoffs.
Rockwood Summit (17) at Ft. Zumwalt South (1) (+.88) Ft. Zumwalt South, 2-1
When two teams with four of the last six Class 3 titles meet up in a quarter, it’s likely going to be a war and the two teams didn’t disappoint in a physical, tense match that went down to the wire. Summit (14-11) had the early 1-0 advantage that lasted until midway through the second half before FZS (23-3) tied it. The game-winner came with 17 minutes to play and the Bulldogs held on to keep their repeat title dreams alive.
Guadalupe (12 (+.16) at Van Horn (21) Van Horn, 2-0
Two teams with a rich local rivalry also went down to the wire in KC’s quarterfinal action. Van Horn (17-7-1) and Guadalupe (12-7) were even at the break, but VH punched in a 47th minute goal and added another insurance goal in the final moments to advance in front of an electric home crowd. The Falcons had struggled with giving up goals earlier in the year, but are now riding clean sheets in five of their last six matches.
Class 4
There is perhaps no team better suited for last-minute drama than the Jackson Indians (18-7-2). A year after winning the 2020 Class 4 title in a heart-stopping run that saw four of its five playoff games go into OT (7 OT’s total), Zack Walton’s squad was at it again Saturday. Jackson’s goal with under 30 seconds to play in the first OT eliminated Marquette (16-5-1) in stunning fashion.
Blue Springs (17) at Kickapoo (10) (+.21) Blue Springs, 1-0
Two equally matched teams met in Springfield with Blue Springs continuing its road success in a 1-0 win behind a goal with 21 minutes left. Kickapoo (20-7-1) hit the post and crossbar in an opening second half flurry, but the Wildcats (15-8) continued their solid defensive play in the playoffs - four games, four shutouts - and held on.
Liberty (Wentzville) (13) (+.17) at John Burroughs (21) John Burroughs, 2-0
Just when you thought John Burroughs had done (and seen) it all this postseason, there was more. The Bombers (17-6-1) hosted a Liberty (17-6-2) squad riding high off an emotional win over St. Dominic and got out to a 1-0 halftime lead via a penalty. From there, the game picked up and JB keepers (one off the bench after a GK yellow) faced not one, not two, but THREE penalty kicks - without allowing any to score before getting a little bit of breathing room with a breakaway goal in the last few minutes. A week after taking out #2 SLUH and #3 Chaminade, Burroughs, a squad bumped up two classes by the Championship Factor, gets a match with #1 Rockhurst in the semis.
Park Hill (23) at Rockhurst (1) (1.09) Rockhurst, 1-0
This would seemed a bit one-sided on paper, but Park Hill (15-9-1) gave the overall #1 team in MO all it could handle at Rockhurst. The Hawklets (22-2) broke through in the game’s final five minutes on a goal by a freshman to advance and end Park Hill’s upset bid. The state’s most awarded program will return to Soccer Park for the first time since 2018 on the strength of its defense, which secured its 15th shutout Saturday.
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