Indians drop season-ending heartbreaker to Jones, 3-2 in 2 OT

Indians drop season-ending heartbreaker to Jones, 3-2 in 2 OT
Adam Gore/LetsGoICC.com

FULTON, MS – Jones County scored in the final seconds of regulation and the second sudden-death overtime to defeat ICC, 3-2, in the quarterfinals of the MACJC soccer playoffs on Tuesday.

"There are no words," said Coach Mike Sullivan. "You just hate to see the season come to an end for this way for our guys."

The Indians (13-4-0) found the equalizer on a penalty kick by Drew Williams (Tupelo) with 15:21 left in the second half before Justin Gordon (Starkville) scored off a rebound to give the Indians a 2-1 lead with just over nine minutes left in the contest.

The Bobcats (7-7-1) bent in a free kick with 9.8 seconds left in regulation to force the match into overtime.

Neither team could take advantage of scoring opportunities in the first overtime and for most of the second overtime after an impressive save by Ben Schaefer (Tupelo) pulled the sophomore keeper away from the net with just over thirty seconds left in the match.

Schaefer quickly scrambled back into position as last-second blind shot-on-goal inched above the keeper's finger tips and found the back of the net with 23.3 seconds left to give the Bobcats the 3-2 victory.

"Hats off to Jones," said Sullivan. "They kept fighting all the way to the end of the match and found a way to win. Neither team deserved to lose such an epic battle, but unfortunately you have to have a winner and a loser."

The win put the Bobcats into the semifinals of the MACJC Tournament.

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