Wildcats win OT thriller; advance to state

A thrilling soccer match unfolded out at Hobbton High School on Tuesday night as the Wildcats hosted Voyager Academy in the NCHSAA State 1A East Region Soccer Championship. The contest was tight from start to finish, as the teams were exchanging punches as the battle for a spot in this weekend’s state championship waged. After it took overtime to settle the debate, it was Hobbton that came out victorious, notching their second-straight appearance in the title game by the 3-2 final score.

Pleasant weather set the stage for Tuesday’s contest as fans packed the stands and the teams hit the field to battle it out. It didn’t take very long for Hobbton’s Henry Garcia to strike first for the Wildcats, getting the opening goal at 37:57 to put the home team up 1-0. His shot on goal clanked off the crossbar and rebounded into the net for the first goal of the game.

After that, Hobbton continued with a top-shelf performance, frequently applying pressure on the Vikings’ defense. Occasionally, Voyager would generate a runout and an opportunity, but the Wildcats defense was impressive and held the Vikings at bay throughout the first half.

With under a minute to go in the first half, Hobbton dodged a late goal and took their 1-0 lead into the halftime break.

When the second half got underway, Voyager came out with a renewed pep in their step. They were flying around noticeably more than in the first half and kept up the offensive. Some controversy befell the game when the Vikings secured their first goal of the game. At 33:19, Hobbton believed an offsides call was coming against Voyager but it never did and the ball rolled freely into the goal, tying the game up at 1-1.

After that, Voyager maintained their intensity, keeping the Wildcats’ defense on their back paws. Hobbton swatted away a multitude of shots on goal. A few moments later, the Vikings were forced to do the same as the teams were scrapping for a goal. The clock dipped below 20:00 with the game locked in a dead-heat.

With 14:34 left, Hobbton generated the go-ahead goal to put themselves back ahead at 2-1. After drawing a free kick off a foul back near midfield, the Wildcats sent a long ball into a fray in front of the net where Ever Reyes headed the ball past the keeper and into the goal.

Now needing to just run out the clock, Hobbton’s defense was content on keeping Voyager from making any runs. At the 7:05 and 2:50 marks, Wildcats goalkeeper Everardo Escalera made huge saves to maintain Hobbton’s lead.

Then, with two seconds left on the clock, the Vikings were beneficiaries of a massive miracle. With the clock rapidly running towards zero, Hobbton committed a foul in the open field along the home sideline. The Vikings scrambled, literally racing against time to scrape together one final attempt. With 2.0 left on the clock, the ball was kicked into a crowd in front of the goal and ricocheted in for the score, tying the game up again at 2-2.

With that, the game was now in overtime, which featured two 10-minute sessions. At the 5:16 mark of the first session, Garcia struck again for his second goal of the game, firing the ball to the left side of the goal that found its way through. Again, all that was left was for the Wildcats defense to stand tall and shut down any Voyager opportunities.

Hobbton was able to do just that as the clock finally ran out on the Vikings to secure the Wildcats 3-2 victory.

“It’s not about fate, it’s not about luck. We’ve worked our tails off this whole season,” said Hobbton head coach Christian Vega. “We’ve worked harder than anybody so this wasn’t given to us and we’re here now. This is our second chance.”

When asked about his team’s response to the goal late in regulation, Vega had nothing but high remarks for his squad.

“It was great to watch. Like I’ve told them this season, these boys have resilience. They always play and they never give up. They always compete. No matter how down we got, we always competed and always got back in the game.”

Now back on the stage of the state championship, the Wildcats will need to tap into all of that resilience as they look to win it all.

Standing in the way of bringing home the gold, though, is the Mount Airy Granite Bears. Though they bear the No. 13 seed in the west, they aren’t to be overlooked as they sport a 23-3 overall record. The Granite Bears have been on the road most of the playoffs, leaving a wake of destruction that has seen them take down the No. 4, No. 5, No. 1, and No. 2 seeds along the way.

If Hobbton hopes to bring home championship hardware, they’ll have to rip Cinderella’s slippers off of her feet.

Game time Saturday is 2:30 p.m. at the Mecklenburg County Sportsplex in Matthews.