Perryville boys soccer team falls to O'Hara in Class 2 state championship

FENTON, Mo. -- Perryville already was losing Saturday's Class 2 state championship game against O'Hara at World Wide Technology Soccer Park.

When the Pirates lost one of their best players, coming back and winning a second straight title was all the more difficult.

Senior midfielder Pablo Mattingly, Perryville's fourth-leading scorer this season with 11 goals and 12 assists, received a red card in the 59th minute for punching O'Hara's Jacob Bolger after Bolger was called for a takedown foul near midfield. The Pirates had to compete with nine field players the rest of the way and couldn't net an equalizer, losing 1-0.

"It's pretty hard having Pablo out," Perryville senior midfielder Kyle Wood said. "He controls the middle, and he's the backbone of our team in the middle right there. Playing a man down, that's hard."

Perryville's Pablo Mattingly leaves the field after receiving a red card, benching him for the rest of the Class 2 championship against O Hara Saturday, Nov. 7, 2015 in Fenton, Missouri. (Glenn Landberg)

Perryville coach Jerry Fulton took issue with the red card, saying Mattingly didn't throw a punch and was merely reacting to Bolger's repeated attempts to grab Mattingly's arm and pull him down to the turf.

O'Hara coach Dirk Lawson, while acknowledging that Bolger pulled down Mattingly and deserved the foul, said referee Brian Martin made the right call by ejecting Mattingly.

"That was a lame call for a red card," Fulton said. "It was a lame red card for a championship game."

Perryville (24-5) still controlled play for most of the remainder of the game and, despite registering only two shots on goal against O'Hara goalkeeper Zach Bolger, threatened to score throughout. Wood hit the crossbar with a hard shot during the final minute of the first half, while Eann Bergman and Caleb Hadler took second-half shots that went just wide of the goal.

"We had a lot of opportunities to score," Perryville goalkeeper Trent Unterreiner said. "We just didn't hit the back of the net."

Perryville's Kyle Wood works against O Hara's Kyle Eckart in the second half of the Class 2 championship Saturday, Nov. 7, 2015 in Fenton, Missouri. (Glenn Landberg)

Unterreiner, a sophomore, made four saves, but he couldn't stop a first-half shot by Michael Drake, whose team-leading 39th goal of the year ended up being the game's only goal.

Drake, a senior, got a breakaway down the middle on a pass by junior Austin Diaz in the 29th minute. He beat Unterreiner with a low right-footed shot inside the right post.

"It was amazing," Drake said. "It's surreal."

The Celtics (22-7) won their first state championship in their first year under Lawson, the brother of longtime Rockhurst coach Chris Lawson and an assistant on the Hawklets' 2013 title team.

"I'm so happy for the seniors that we have on this team. They never really questioned the process," Dirk Lawson said. "I think they understood that I knew what it took to do it, and they bought in fully."

The Pirates, who won their first state championship last year, also knew what it took to win it all. But they couldn't quite do it again, partly because they played the final 21 minutes without one of their top players.

Mattingly and his twin brother, Emilio Mattingly, are among Perryville's five senior starters. The Pirates will bring back their other six starters, including Unterreiner and second-leading goal scorer Cole Gerstenberger, a freshman.

"I'm proud of each and every one of my guys," Wood said. "They'll be back next year."