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North Branch 4, Duluth Marshall 3 (Overtime shootout)

A horde of Vikings invaded the field and celebrated wildly after David Cunningham's shot from the penalty spot sailed past the Duluth Marshall goalkeeper and into the net to give the sixth-seeded Vikings a 4-3 upset win in a shootout over the third-seeded Hilltoppers in a Section 7A quarterfinal game last Saturday, October 16 at Duluth.

With the teams tied 3-3 after two overtimes, the Vikings put together a perfect shootout to nail down the victory. The Vikings lost the coin toss and had to go first in the shootout, but it didn't matter. Senior goalkeeper Jake Borash, senior Tyler Ertl, junior Trent Holmes and senior Zach Mattson all converted their shots, and the Vikings led 4-3 with the fourth Hilltopper up next. The shot appeared to be headed toward the corner of the net, but Borash dove and tipped it off the post to keep the Viking lead at 4-3. Cunningham was up next and didn't miss, sending the Vikings to a matchup at second-seed Proctor on Tuesday, October 19. That game had not been played when this edition of the Chisago County Press went to press.

The Vikings came out of the very physical game with injuries to a couple of key players. Senior Trent Klatt has his wrist broken and will be out for the rest of the playoffs. Klatt was injured when one of the Hilltoppers took a high kick at a ball. Klatt moved in to steal the ball and the Hilltopper's follow through caught him in the wrist. No foul was called, as neither the referee or either of the assistant referees got a clear view of the play.

Near the end of the second overtime, Ceroll had his knee injured in a violent challenge. As Ceroll laid on the ground writhing in agony, the Hilltopper player received a well-deserved red card for his cheap shot. But the referee made it a "soft" red, meaning the Hilltoppers wouldn't have to play a man short. Since the game was pretty much headed for a shootout at that point anyway, the Vikings didn't press the point that the player really deserved a hard red and his team should have been down one player on the field. Ceroll's status was uncertain as of this edition of the Press, but his goal was to try to play in Tuesday's semifinal game.

The Hilltoppers opened the scoring in the first half, but the Vikings came storming back to take a two-goal lead. Ceroll scored for the Vikings to tie the game at 1-1. Ertl used his teammates well to score the next Viking goal. Carrying the ball down the field, he passed the ball over to senior Mitch Gurmundson, who immediately passed it back. Continuing on, Ertl passed it to Ceroll, who passed it back. Ertl continued to run through the defense and buried the ball in the corner of the net to give the Vikings their first lead. Later in the half, Trent Holmes boomed a shot toward the upper right corner of the net from 50 yards out. The goalkeeper leaped and got his hands in position to make the play, but the ball went through his hands and into the net to give the Vikings a two-goal lead at 3-1.

With 20 seconds remaining till halftime, the Hilltoppers scored a goal in which the shooter clearly appeared to be offside. No offside was called by either the referee or the assistant referee and the goal was allowed to stand. Borash, one of the Viking team captains, pleaded his case for an offsides call with the referee and ended up with a yellow card for his efforts. The teams went into halftime with the Vikings ahead 3-2.

A strong wind played a significant role in this game. The Vikings had the wind at their backs in the first half and took advantage of it. They defended well against the wind for the most part in the second half, but the Hilltoppers scored the only goal of the half to send the game into overtime.

The Vikings won the coin toss going into overtime and chose to go against the wind for the first ten minutes. Said Viking head coach Graeme Jury, "Our strategy was to absorb the attack with the wind against us for the first ten minutes of overtime and try to score with the wind when they were more tired in the second ten minutes." The Vikings' strategy nearly worked as they dominated the second overtime. The Vikings' best scoring opportunity came on a clean breakaway by Ceroll. But the Duluth Marshall keeper made a great save and kept the game tied.

The Vikings were well-prepared for the ensuing shootout. "We practice penalty kicks from day one of practice," said Jury. "We have had our five shooters picked out since mid-August. Most of our practices end with penalty kicks, so we knew we would be ready when the time came." And all that practice paid off for the Vikings in the end.

Viking keeper Borash took the first penalty kick in the shootout. It's unusual, but not unheard of, for a keeper to be used as a shooter in a shootout. But Borash rose to the occasion. And he played well in the nets, too. "Jake was our player of the game," said Jury. "He made 24 saves and absolutely kept us in it. This was one of his best games."

If the Vikings were able to beat second-seeded Proctor on Tuesday, October 19 at Proctor, they will play the winner of the game between first-seeded Grand Rapids and fourth-seeded Hermantown in the section championship game tonight at 7 p.m. at Chisago Lakes High School. Chisago Lakes has arguably the best playing surface in the section, so field conditions shouldn't have an effect on the outcome of the game.

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