Early goal in OT sends Eureka past Jackson in Class 4 District 1 boys soccer championship

IMPERIAL, Mo. -- After failing to capitalize on a number of scoring chances, the Jackson boys soccer team took advantage of a rare mistake to even the score.

Josh Scholl sent a corner kick several yards in front of the far side of the net, where Drew Brown headed the ball into the hands of Eureka goalkeeper Joseph Owens.

The ball was mishandled by Owens and resulted in a game-tying goal with 9 minutes, 35 seconds remaining in regulation.

Both teams headed to overtime tied at 1-all, but the Wildcats weren't ready to let Owens' mistake bring an end to their season.

Jackson's Justice Crosnoe meets Eureka's Kaleb Overby for a header in the first half during the Class 4 district 1 championship in Imperial, Missouri Wednesday, Oct. 28, 2015. (Glenn Landberg)

Jackson goalkeeper Brayden Emmons made a diving save on a shot attempt, but Andrew Mocker was there to capitalize on the deflection, delivering the golden goal 34 seconds into overtime that gave the Wildcats a 2-1 win in Wednesday's Class 4 District 1 championship at Seckman High School.

"Our goalie is unbelievable. He's single-handedly won games for us in the back, and we weren't going to let him down," Eureka coach Gary Schneider said. "We were going to pick him up."

The winning goal was the product of a defensive breakdown as several Jackson players were unable to clear the ball.

"It was a good, hard-fought game," Jackson coach Zack Walton said. "Unfortunately the ball doesn't go our way at the end of the game. It went Eureka's way. That's kind of what we knew it was going to come down to, who was going to get a break there in overtime."

"... I felt like our boys played hard. I was proud of them. All the way to the end, they played as hard as they could. It was two good teams going at it, really."

Eureka (17-6-1) took a 1-0 lead 10 minutes, 53 seconds into the game when Jake Naeger blasted a shot into the left corner of the net on a pass from Mocker.

"They're a heck of a team, and our best chance was to get one early," Schneider said. "We tried as best we could to get another one but couldn't. Their defense was tough."

Jackson (15-4-2) had its best chance of the first half less than three minutes later when Owens misplayed a ball, leaving two defenders between Liam Gray and the goal. One of those defenders was Joshua Jackson, who threw his body in front of Gray's shot attempt to end the threat.

Jackson players celebrate a goal kicked in by Drew Brown in the second half during the Class 4 district 1 championship in Imperial, Missouri Wednesday, Oct. 28, 2015. (Glenn Landberg)

"I think we had about two good opportunities in that first half," Walton said. "In that second half, we slid a couple balls through the box there and had some crosses in there that we could not find the end on it. They did a good job of clearing it out and didn't panic."

The Wildcats carried the 1-0 lead into halftime, but Walton said he wanted his offense to stay aggressive.

"We kind of felt like, 'Hey, we have 40 more minutes,'" Walton said. "We had some opportunities in that first half. We just needed to keep playing hard and try to get one in. If we had 40 minutes, we felt like we could get some more opportunities to get some chances, but we had to play hard and try to pick it up a little bit offensively more than we did in the first half."

The Indians had three shots on goal in the second half, the second of which led to Brown's goal. The third came less than two minutes later when Gray blasted a ball from 30 yards out that was easily handled by Owens.

"Momentum is big in high school sports, especially in soccer. You can get the momentum on your side, and you could tell right then that we had momentum," Walton said. "We had even more chances right then."

Jackson's Colten Weber congratulates Eureka's Kaleb Overby on their win in the Class 4 district 1 championship in Imperial, Missouri Wednesday, Oct. 28, 2015. (Glenn Landberg)

Schneider said his players focused on slowing down Gray and senior defender Kameron Christensen.

"We did our best we can to keep those two under control," Schneider said. "That was a full-time job for those guys who were on them."

Jackson will graduate five seniors -- Christensen, Hunter Kelpe, Aaron Voshage, Caleb Wadley and Brayden Wilson -- but is expected to return nine juniors, including Gray and Scholl, the team's leading scorer.

"We've got a lot of good seniors this year graduating. We're going to miss them for sure," Walton said. "We'll definitely build with our juniors and returning sophomores next year and look for another good season next year."