Wichita seems to have found its team of destiny through the state soccer playoffs

Andrew Bliss dipped his shoulder, and again, and fired; soon his arms were spread to his sides as he ran down the sideline.

Bliss scored the game-winning, double-overtime goal in Maize South’s 2-1 Class 5A soccer regional final win over Eisenhower on Thursday. Coach Rey Ramirez and the players were understandably emotional after the game.

Maize South has fallen in the regional final each of the past four seasons, but with the win, the Mavericks will play No. 15 seed Great Bend at 6 p.m. Tuesday at home. It is a spot they couldn’t have imagined they would be in a week before.

“(I’m feeling) overwhelmed I guess, it’s crazy,” Bliss said. “We haven’t been here in my three years of playing varsity here. It’s big to get that first win. It’s been a while.”

Maize South earned the No. 3 seed in Class 5A West at 13-3-0. Maize South was paired with No. 6 Eisenhower, one of the strongest teams in the Wichita area and a team that beat them 2-1 on Oct. 9.

The Mavericks’ home tournament was going to be one of the most difficult to win in all of Kansas playoff soccer.

On top of that, Maize South lost its school-record goal scorer Raul Gerhardus to a season-ending injury after its 3-2 overtime win at Andover Central on Oct. 16.

Although Maize South was the higher seed and was playing at home, Eisenhower was likely the favorite coming in.

“At times, many things felt like they were going against us,” Ramirez said. “Something that we possible saw as a negative became a huge positive tonight.”

It looked to be the Tigers’ night as Eisenhower junior striker Carlos Fernandez opened the scoring with 26 minutes to go in the first half. But with seven minutes to play, Maize South senior midfielder Bryce Bowman caught the Tigers sleeping.

The Mavericks earned a corner kick, and before Eisenhower had time to set up its defense, Maize South played it and Bowman scored it to send the regional final to overtime, where Bliss won it.

Ramirez was faced with a decision after Eisenhower’s opening goal. Bliss, regularly a center back, flipped his position to the top of the field as a striker. That’s why he was there to score the winner.

But it came with some risk as the Mavericks were more susceptible on the defensive end.

“Do we want to hope for the best or do we want to go win this game?” Ramirez said of the decision. “It’s putting your neck out there. You can die by it or you can live by it.

“And today, we’ve lived.”

With the odds against Maize South through Thursday, the Mavericks earned some luck playing Great Bend. Had the Panthers lost to Salina South, Maize South would have played Kapaun, and Bishop Carroll would have been the No. 1 seed in the West.

Senior captain Spencer Steinhoff said it feels like destiny.

“It was meant to be maybe,” he said. “I can’t describe it. Everything I do is for these guys, and I’m sure they would do the same for me. I’m just so happy.”

This story was originally published October 25, 2018 at 10:10 PM.