Mattingly's late goal sends Perryville soccer team back to state championship

FENTON, Mo. -- Emilio Mattingly's twin brother, Pablo, had a gameplan late in regulation of Perryville's scoreless Class 2 semifinal soccer game against Southern Boone on Friday at the World Wide Technology Soccer Park.

"My brother actually told me, 'We take them to overtime and we'll beat them,'" Emilio said. "And I said, 'No, we don't go there. We have to finish it in regular time.' I'm glad we did."

Emilio Mattingly shattered the scoreless deadlock with a header off a cross from sophomore defender Kwaid Fears with 4 minutes, 41 seconds left in regulation to return the defending state champions to the title game with a 1-0 victory.

Perryville (24-4) will face O'Hara in the championship game at 4 p.m. Saturday. The Celtics (21-7) defeated St. Francis Borgia 1-0 in the other semifinal.

Perryville's Emilio Mattingly celebrates with Kyle Wood after scoring the Pirates only goal to win a Class 2 semifinal game against Southern Boone Friday, Nov. 6, 2015 in Fenton, Missouri. (Glenn Landberg)

Mattingly's goal was the first yielded in postseason play by Southern Boone (25-2-1), which had outscored its previous four playoff opponents 14-0.

"They were really good up top and we just kept holding them off, holding them off," said Perryville senior center Eann Bergman, one of three returning starters from last year's team that made the program's first trip to the final four. "Finally we got a good break and Emilio finished the header. We thought it was bound for overtime, but a late play -- you just can't give up,"

The game-winner came unexpectedly after Fears took the ball near midfield and dropped it off to junior midfielder Jacob Sparkman, who returned the ball back to Fears along the right sideline.

Fears was confronted by Eagles senior defender Zach Fischer, who tried to hang with Fears' footwork and fakes.

"The kid came out and I cut it out from under his feet and had to dribble around a few, and then I just put the cross in and hopefully there was someone there," Fears said.

As he had been on defense earlier in the game, preventing a goal by blocking a shot on the goal line as he guarded a post, Emilio Mattingly was in the perfect spot.

Perryville's Kwaid Fears works the ball past Southern Boone's Zach Fischer in the second half of a Class 2 semifinal game Friday, Nov. 6, 2015 in Fenton, Missouri. (Glenn Landberg)

"I saw him dribble in, and as soon as he was going to hit it, I went in," Mattingly said. "It came to me and I just finished it. [The goalkeeper] was facing Kwaid, and soon as he turned, it was too late."

Mattingly sent his 11th goal of the season, and first header goal, to the right of Eagles goalkeeper Connor Bandre, who had allowed just 11 goals all season.

"We don't get many goals with our head," Pablo Mattingly said about his brother's game-winner. "We try to play it down."

It was the 10th and final shot for the Pirates, who were outshot 15-10 in the game.

"It blew my mind in the last four minutes we could put a goal in like that," Fears said.

Perryville sophomore goalkeeper Trent Unterreiner had thwarted the Eagles' Maguire Scheer on a similar play just minutes earlier, lunging to his right to make a save.

It was one of six saves Unterreiner made against Southern Boone, which had the better scoring opportunities most of the game with senior forward Ian Meentemeyer and junior forward Ian McCluskey creating the better chances with nifty dribbling and passing.

"It took more than one guy to stop them," Bergman said. "We had a team effort to stop them all, and we just held them off long enough for us to score."

Meentemeyer entered the game with 41 of the Eagles' 102 goals on the season, while McCluskey had 23.

Perryville's Kyle Wood drives against Southern Boone's Adam Burgoon in the second half of a Class 2 semifinal game Friday, Nov. 6, 2015 in Fenton, Missouri. (Glenn Landberg)

"We knew everything was going to play through those two, and that was pretty much our gameplan was to shut those two guys down," Perryville coach Jerry Fulton said. "We also had a bigger gameplan that we didn't execute very well, but I thought we did take away the chances of (McCluskey and Meentemeyer) as much as possible."

Unterreiner deflected a McCluskey shot over the cross bar midway through the first half, and minutes later received assistance from Emilio Mattingly, who was hugging the post and blocked a shot from Zach Culley that was targeted for the lower right corner.

"On all corners, Emilio started coming back and started covering the short post for us," Fulton said. "We had a little breakdown against Bayless [last season] on that and they scored on that short pass, so Emilio has been covering that short post for us ever since. A very nice cover there."

The Eagles outshot the Pirates 9-5 in a first half that ended scoreless. Southern Boone had three of the game's better scoring chances in the first 10 minutes of the second half. The Pirates were able to clear a loose ball after Unterreiner knocked down a cross pass deep in the box, and minutes later stopped a pair of shots by Meentemeyer taken from the top of the 18-yard box.

Perryville fans cheer in the second half of a Class 2 semifinal game against Southern Boone Friday, Nov. 6, 2015 in Fenton, Missouri. (Glenn Landberg)

"It was a high quality game. Two very good teams," said Southern Boone coach Chris Miller, whose team came in ranked No. 2 in the Missouri High School Soccer Coaches Association rankings. "I thought we had the better chances and we had a lot of the play, but they made the one that counts. We did everything we could to give ourselves a chance. We just didn't get one to go in or get a bounce to go our way."

In the end the defending champions were able to make a play when it mattered most.

"You can say maybe their history helped them out, maybe it did," Miller said. "I think at the time the kid served a great ball and the one at the other end finished. It was unfortunate."

The win was the eighth in a row for the Pirates, who are ranked No. 4 in Class 2.

"Halfway though the season you couldn't see this coming," Bergman said. "About three-quarters the way through the season we started playing really good soccer, and we've been playing really good ever since."