There were 78 minutes of scoreless soccer Friday night in the Region 5D boys soccer championship match.
And then everything happened all at once.
Albemarle scored with under two minutes to play and seemingly won the match but Riverside immediately answered and regulation ended seconds later.
Then just two minutes into overtime, Leo Duran struck off a Mason Fischer cross and after a tense few minutes on defense, Albemarle walked away with a 2-1 victory, the Region 5D championship and the opportunity to host a Class 5 state quarterfinal match next week.
“He crossed it and I was like, it’s gotta be me, it’s gotta be me,” Duran said.
It was him as he hit it off the inside of his foot and it went in, putting the Patriots up 2-1. Duran’s goal was the final tally in the four-minute offensive explosion, but Jonathan Biediger got it started with his goal with under two minutes left. The junior defender elevated in the box and headed a corner ball served up toward the far post.
“Me personally, I was a little mad, I was like, I’m getting in and I’m going to score this,” Biediger said. “It was amazing, that feeling, all of us running afterwards – it was amazing.”
Albemarle celebrated wildly after the Biediger goal as has become their fashion this spring, with the entire bench mobbing Biediger in the corner. But once the game reset, Riverside struck quickly as the Albemarle defense let up a rare goal with senior Alex Balkey providing the equalizer. Second later, the whistle sounded, ending regulation.
Albemarle faced a tall task, resetting itself after that emotional roller coaster, but clearly the Patriots managed to lock back in, setting the stage for Duran’s heroics.
“We just couldn’t keep it together but when it went into overtime, we talked about it here and then Leo got on to it, I was ecstatic,” Biediger said.
Outside that single moment near the end of regulation, the Albemarle defense of Jack Dofflemyer, Devin Kriebel, keeper Joe Stein, junior Tilman Sherwood and Biediger had played a phenomenal game, pulling it off thanks in large part to their cohesiveness as a unit.
“Today was communication, we had to keep talking,” Biediger said. “It has to be like that, we have to stick together and keep working hard.”
The Patriots now advance to the Class 5 state quarterfinals where they’ll host Tuesday or Wednesday night.
