Tigers defeat Cardinals in wild OT finish

With time winding down in the second overtime and penalty kicks to determine the game looming, Morgan City High School’s Irving Delgado took control of the ball, pushed it down the sideline opposite the teams’ benches and with an E.D. White defender having closed in on him from his left side, fired a history-making goal for Morgan City High School’s boys soccer team.
The goal, which sent Morgan City High soccer players in celebration and E.D. White players to the ground dejected, capped an unbelievable comeback for the No. 11 seed Tigers in an upset of the No. 6 seed Cardinals.
“I just closed my eyes and did what I could do best. … I just closed my eyes,” Delgado, still with tears, said. “I felt like I was in a dream. I didn’t even feel (like) I was playing in a game.”
Trailing 1-0 late in the contest, the Tigers’ goalie, Daniel Valadez, headed a goal in for Morgan City on offense in the 79th minute after a corner kick by teammate Brayan Alleman to tie the game at 1.
“Into the final seconds, it’s funny because Daniel in practice was practicing (heading in) goals,” Morgan City soccer coach Trevor Patterson said.
The practice, Patterson said today, was something Valadez was doing on his own.
After E.D. White couldn’t counter in the remainder of regulation, the game went into two 10-minute sessions of overtime.
While Morgan City scored in the first session of the overtime, the Tigers were ruled offsides on the play, negating the goal by Miguel Perez.
Before the Tigers’ goal was negated, the Tigers lost Alleman to an ejection and had to play the remainder of the extra periods with 10 players to E.D. White’s 11.
With the score still tied at 1 after the second, 10-minute session overtime ended, the teams went to a "sudden death" overtime format where up to two, five-minute periods are played but the game is ended when either teams scores.
Neither team could get the ball in the back of the net in the first "sudden death" period, but with seconds remaining before the game would go into the penalty-kick phase, Delgado made his move and Morgan City made history.
“It’s a very cruel game,” E.D. White coach Roger Bimah said of soccer. “All the credit to Morgan City. They were resolute, defended like crazy and took their chance.”
Morgan City’s soccer program, which was founded by Patterson 11 years ago, now will play in the quarterfinals for the first time when it hosts No. 3 Bolton High School Monday at 3:30 p.m. at Tiger Stadium.
In Thursday’s win, E.D. White scored first when Ethan King connected on a shot in the 22nd minute that lazily rolled past Valadez into the goal.
In the first half, Morgan City fired a free kick that E.D. White’s goalie made a nice save on.
The Tigers didn’t have much success offensively in the first half.
Early in the second half, E.D. White had more chances but couldn’t convert off two corner kicks and a free kick, while Valadez made a nice save.
“The lesson we learned that I hope they understand that the composure around the goal and putting the shots on target is what you got to do,” Bimah said of his team. “(From) my stats we outshot them 10-1, and we couldn’t get it in. There always seemed to be a green shirt in the way, and I give ’em credit for that.”
Prior to Morgan City tying the game, the Tigers had chances to score via a kick near the E.D. White goal and two corner kicks by Alleman that they couldn’t convert on.
Two minutes into overtime, the Tigers’ defense stood tall, preventing any damage after a kick by Michael Melancon in the second minute with E.D. White’s King in the vicinity of the ball.
Perez got a goal just before halftime of the initial overtime, but the Tigers were called for offsides on the play.
In the first half of sudden death, E.D. White got a shot attempt by James Viguerie that went over the goal.
In the second half of sudden death, Delgado got a shot off in the third minute but it went straight to E.D. White goalie Nick Fontenot, who made a save.
“E.D. White’s a great team, very well coached,” Patterson said. “Hats off to them.”
The victory comes at a friendly expense for Patterson.
“It’s going to cost me a lot of money because I told them if they win, I would cook steaks for them,” he said.