After two overtimes, it came down to the last minute for the Dodge City High School Red Demons soccer team Saturday at Memorial Stadium.
The crowd held its breath as Alan Rojas kicked the final goal, winning the game 2-1 over the Garden City Buffaloes in double-overtime.
"Two-to-one, which means we got our two victory over Garden, and we can't ask for more," Demons coach Virgil Hutchcraft said. "We could have won it in 80 minutes instead of 100, but it's a W and we are happy with it.
"It keeps us where we need to be to try to steal away WAC from Liberal."
The Demons were trailing 1-0 at the half, but Julio Ramirez's tied the game at 1-1 with a goal. There were still 27 minutes left, but neither team could it out at the end of regulation.
After 90 minutes of play, the score was still tied.
Another 10 minutes on the clock. Finally, the clock ticked down to 1:43, when Rojas scored with an assist by Armando Hipolito.
"It was an entire team effort," Hutchcraft said. "We have to have all of the players step up. We put some guys in today who haven't played too much of the varsity level, and they were right there with us and kept us in the ball game.
"I think we learned something defensively today about how to take away the other team's strength."
Hutchcraft said theere should have no problem from his players to keep up their intensity. They want to overtake Liberal and win WAC for their school. They travel to Liberal on Oct. 22 in a critical league match.
"We are also looking for a top seed in the region," Hutchcraft said. "Right now, we are sitting at No. 2, and we want to keep that if we can't get No. 1."
The Demons will hope to make a run for first, when they take on Hays on Tuesday at Memorial Stadium.
"Hays might be a little tougher than they were up there," Hutchcraft said. "They've found out how to win again, and we have to be ready for them."
Reach Susie Van Heule at (620) 408-9913 or e-mail her at susie.vanheule@dodgeglobe.com.
DODGE CITY —
