Carroll, Kapaun play to double overtime in state soccer quarterfinals

Minutes earlier, he was on the ground with cramps.

Tyler Griffin didn’t feel them after he scored the double overtime, game-winner for Bishop Carroll in its 2-1 win over rival Kapaun in the high school soccer state quarterfinals Tuesday.

“I’m really tired, but I knew as soon as I got in that I was going to score that goal,” Griffin said.

Much like it was astounding that Griffin was back on the pitch, it was eye-popping that Carroll was even in position to reach the Class 5A semifinals for a second straight year for more reasons than one.

After conceding a goal after just eight minutes to Kapaun senior Corbin Mai on a long ball from fellow senior Jack Barrier, Carroll was on its heels for much of the 80-minute match.

Golden Eagle coach Mike Skaggs changed his formation and threw more players forward to throw the Kapaun defense off and force it into turnovers. Carroll senior center back Brad Huslig ended up being one of those players.

With three minutes to play in the second half still trailing, Huslig looked up at the scoreboard.

“I said, ‘It’s go hard or go home,’ ” he said. “If we get scored on, so what? 2-0, 1-0, it doesn’t matter.”

After forcing a turnover in Kapaun’s own half, senior forward Carson Lee, who was used mostly as a decoy Tuesday, got the ball on the right wing and sent a bouncing cross into the box.

Huslig tracked it and yelled, “Leave,” to freshman forward Sebastian Vizcarra, who let the ball go through. Huslig took a touch to his left and buried it to the bottom right corner. With 1:43 to play, Carroll sent it to overtime and kept the dream alive.

The Golden Eagles will enter the Class 5A semifinals as the No. 2 seed at 15-4. They will play defending champion Blue Valley Southwest at 7 p.m. Friday in Topeka.

Few believed that would be the case coming into the 2018 season, Skaggs said. They are scrappy, and that’s the way they like it.

“I can’t think of two better guys to score those goals to send us back to state - a team that graduated eight seniors last year by the way,” he said. “Nobody was even giving us a chance really to win City League. We did it, and then to go back to state, these guys just gutted it out.

“I’ve told them for the past couple weeks, ‘I don’t think anybody outside of our circle gave us a chance of being as successful as we’ve been this season. We’re 15-4, going to state for the fifth time in six years.”

That underdog mentality trickled down to the players. It motivated them.

“It’s unbelievable,” Huslig said. “It’s our rival. It’s double overtime. We’re at home to go to state. It’s nothing more you could ask for. After losing 3-1 to them (in the regular season), nobody thought we could beat them today. It’s an amazing feeling to get back to state.

“The seniors told us last year that we would never be better than they were, and we’re just trying to prove them wrong. I’m in shock right now.”

Carroll will be looking to do one better than last year’s team, which lost in the 5A championship game to the team the Eagles will play Friday night.

This story was originally published October 30, 2018 at 10:02 PM.