COLLINSVILLE – Edwardsville had not beaten the O’Fallon Panthers this season, suffering two overtime losses as the Tigers finished the season 5-5 in the Southwestern Conference.
The Panthers were second in the conference with an 8-2 mark, earning them the No. 2 seed in the top half of the Alton Sectional. Meanwhile, Edwardsville was a No. 3 seed.
The two met for a final installment in the regional final, a game scheduled to be played up in Quincy but brought down to the home of the Kahoks. This game also needed overtime, and then penalties to determine a winner as the Tigers won 2-1 after a shootout.
During the shootout, Jayden Bettorf was brought in, replacing Collin Schelecte who had just played the prior 100 minutes of soccer in the Edwardsville goal.
The switch paid dividends when Bettorf made three saves in the penalty shootout as the Tigers won 3-1 after four rounds.
Edwardsville head coach Mark Heiderscheid didn’t want much to do with the shootout, having his back turned from the field during the majority of it. He claims he wasn’t nervous.
“Well, you can tell now, not really,” he said with a grin. “For me, I’ve pretty much watched every one of them. But I think in this case I know by sound everything that happened. I also know that Jayden’s adequately prepped and he’s ready to go. He’s a specialist,” Heiderscheid added.
The Tigers trailed Saturday afternoon’s game for over an hour after a quick start from the Panthers.
Ian Dew scored after a low-driven cross was whipped into the box from way out wide. The cross made its way through some Edwardsville defenders before getting to an unmarked Dew, who tapped it in at the back post to take the lead in the seventh minute.
“I thought we had an okay start,” Heiderscheid said. “It’s always a game that’s heavily contested, gritty in the playoffs. I thought we had some decent play, then all of a sudden, they get the ball, they’re wide, it goes through, and it was really just an unfortunate goal.”
“If anything, that was a tough pill to swallow, and that made them very energetic,” Heiderscheid added.
O’Fallon’s goal did spark the Tigers, but they still didn’t have an answer until the 73rd minute when Henry Vivian ran onto a perfect through ball. He took it in stride, beat the O’Fallon defender on pace, touched in toward goal, and put his shot left side netting to tie the game with a well-timed individual effort.
The first 80 minutes were an intense battle, one that had no sort of rhythm thanks to plenty of fouls being called by the officials and lots of substitutions from the Panthers.
The two 10-minute overtime periods didn’t produce much action, as the teams seemed to not take many risks, heading toward the shootout, one that could have gone either way.
“It’s honestly a flip of a coin,” Heiderscheid said. “Both teams would have been deserved. Every one of our games with O’Fallon went to overtime. We lost a PK shootout to them earlier.”
The Panthers end the season at 13-6-1 while the Tigers earn a 17th regional title under Heiderscheid’s direction as head coach and a second in a row.
Now the Tigers will move on to the sectional semifinal where they’ll take on top-seeded Belleville West on Tuesday, October 29 at 5 p.m. at Alton’s Public School Stadium.
The Maroons beat Edwardsville twice in the regular season by scores of 3-0 and 2-1. Belleville West beat Collinsville 3-0 on Friday in their regional final.
On the other side of the sectional is top-seeded Moline and No. 3 seed Normal Community. The sectional championship game will be on Friday, November 1 back in Alton at 6 p.m.
