‘Let’s get the win.’ Dunbar tops Douglass for boys’ 11th Region soccer crown in PK shootout
After 80 minutes plus two five-minute overtimes, it took a penalty kick shootout between No. 2 Paul Laurence Dunbar and No. 3 Frederick Douglass to settle their Boys’ 11th Region Tournament game for the third year in a row.
But this time, the region crown and a trip to the state tournament hung in the balance.
Dunbar keeper Mason Feddock saved Douglass’s fourth spot kick while his teammates cleanly finished all five of their tries to give the Bulldogs a 5-4 shootout win after a 1-1 tie in regulation and overtime. It’s Dunbar’s third straight region title, and it gives the Bulldogs a chance to defend their 2021 state championship.
“Our goalie, he’ll bring us the ball every game, we know that,” Dunbar’s tournament MVP Jacob Oser said. “We knew going into PKs that we were winning it. The game was over. … Well, about 95 percent. I knew we had it.”
Ryan O’Hara took one of the PKs and had the assist on Dunbar’s lone goal in regulation in the first half.
“When we go into a shootout, we know we have a keeper that can save anything, and we trust all of our guys to make our penalties,” O’Hara said. “We don’t want to go to penalties, but when we do, we trust ourselves.”
Dunbar withstands early pressure
Douglass, making its first appearance in the 11th Region title game in the school’s sixth year of existence, poured on the pressure early in the first half with the wind at its back at Madison Central High School.
“After the first 10 or 15 minutes we kind of figured it out,” Dunbar Coach James Wray said. “We were playing too much in the air, and we finally got the ball on the ground and played our game and that led to some opportunities.”
A foul call on one of Dunbar’s counterattacks set up O’Hara with a free kick near the left sideline from about 26 yards out.
“Talking to Ryan, I said, ‘You’re going to have to drive it into this wind. If you put it up, it’s just going to float all over the place,’” Wray recalled. “So, he put a nice ball that kind of skimmed the ground right to (Christian) Delgado.”
Delgado’s first touch spun him around unmarked toward the edge of the 6-yard box. His falling left-footed shot went across the face of the goal and into the far side netting.
“It was pretty lucky, honestly,” Delgado said. “It was just instinct. I didn’t really think about it. I just turned the ball into the shot and saw the ball hit the back of the net.”
Douglass equalizes, forcing overtime
Dunbar’s lead held until the final few minutes when Gavin Jones stepped into a ball leaking out to the 18-yard box after a Douglass corner kick. He rifled it through traffic to tie the game 1-1 with 5:29 left in regulation.
“Douglass isn’t gonna quit,” Wray said. “They’re an outstanding team. They’re physical. They’re fast. Just the way they played puts so much pressure on you. … They scored a goal like a champion does. But credit to our guys, we didn’t quit, we didn’t get our head down. We went to overtime and we said, ‘Let’s get the win.’”
For Douglass (17-1-4), a brutal third straight loss to Dunbar in a region elimination game stung.
“It’s heartbreaking to say the least,” Douglass Coach Omar Shalash said. “We’ve been really unfortunate. I just tried to make sure I loved up on them and let them know that they’ve accomplished a lot of things that they’re not going to be able to see here for a few more weeks.”
For each of the last few years, Shalash has gone into the postseason believing his team could win it all. In 2022, with an undefeated team rated as high as No. 2 this season by Maher Rankings, he was as close to right as he’s ever been.
“I think we’ve established the ‘Be Great Way.’” Shalash said. “You fall short. That’s life. It’s how we get up and how we respond. I know my guys are hurting, I’m hurting for them, but at the end of the day, they executed theirs. We didn’t.”
Next up, state
Dunbar (15-2-3) rated as the No. 6 team in the state at the end of the regular season, according to the Kentucky High School Athletic Association’s RPI system that’s used to determine postseason home-field advantage for the first two rounds of the state tournament.
As such, the Bulldogs will host their first-round game against 16th Region champion Boyd County on Tuesday. Kickoff time has not yet been set. It is the second year in a row the KHSAA’s blind draw has pitted the 11th Region against the 16th in this tournament.
If Dunbar advances Tuesday, it will also host a second-round game against either Perry County Central or Corbin on Oct. 22.
Next week’s state semifinals and finals will be held at Frederick Douglass High School.
“Penalty kicks three years in a row,” Wray said, shaking his head. “I’m happy to be on the winning end, but it’s never easy and I hate to see a really, really, really good team go home on penalty kicks. But we’ll take it. We live to fight another day and we’ll see how far we can go.”
All-Tournament Team
Jacob Oser (MVP), Ryan O’Hara, Grant Courtad, Christian Delgado, Dunbar; Cooper Ranvier, Josh Carr, Gavin Jones, Douglass; Preston Barber and Colby Cracraft, Frankfort; Kevin Nevarez and Anton Ffisk, Lexington Catholic; Hayden Jakubowski, Madison Southern; Serge Nkomeza, Bryan Station; Tyler Smith, Madison Central; Wes Holt, Great Crossing.
Tuesday’s game
Boys’ State Soccer Tournament First Round
Boyd County (11-3-2) at Paul Laurence Dunbar (15-2-3), time TBA
Complete bracket online: bit.ly/3yLhfMR
This story was originally published October 15, 2022 at 10:20 PM.
