Soccer: Gainesville defeats Johnson in shootout, secures playoff spot

OAKWOOD -- In the end, the difference between Gainesville making and missing the playoffs -- and Johnson missing out on a region title -- came down to about two feet.

That’s how far the Knights missed on their final penalty in a shootout Tuesday night in Oakwood, giving the Red Elephants the win after the two teams played through a thrilling 1-1 draw in regulation and overtime.

The 7-6 shootout victory ensured Gainesville (11-5, 7-3 Region 7-AAA) of a postseason berth when a loss would have knocked the Red Elephants from the postseason. Meanwhile, a win for Johnson -- combined with West Hall’s 2-0 win over Creekview on Tuesday -- would have netted the sixth-ranked Knights (12-5, 7-3) a region title.

“There were no nerves; the kids came into the game really loose, but there was also a great desire there to win,” Red Elephants coach Rick Howard said. “We hung in there and fought tooth and nail.”

Gainesville rode a rough start after falling behind 1-0 in the first half on a Gabriel Carillo goal. But once Yonis Yanes knotted the game at 1-1 eight minutes into the second half, the Red Elephants grew in confidence and narrowly missed winning in regulation after striking the Johnson crossbar and upright over the final 30 minutes.

With no way to separate the two rivals, the game drifted into overtime and then the shootout -- and, again, neither team could pull away.

Gainesville converted its first four spot kicks in the best-of-five format, while goalkeeper Phillip Gaines saved the Knights’ second attempt. But a chance to clinch the win eluded Gaines when the goalkeeper turned shooter for the fifth attempt and blasted his kick wide of the Johnson goal. The Knights’ Ruben Castro promptly converted Johnson’s fifth attempt, sending the game into a sudden-death shootout.

Venustiano Perez, Bryan Sanchez and Charlie Bryant each scored for the Red Elephants in sudden death, while Ariel Mejia and Christian Isidro did the same for Johnson. But the Knights could not keep pace on shot number eight, firing wide of Gaines’ goal to send Gainesville into the postseason.

“I’m incredibly proud of this team,” Howard said. “They’ve gotten better every game, and they won when they had to -- even though it wasn’t always pretty.”

The outcome denied Johnson the 7-AAA crown -- though the Knights appeared well on their way to the top spot in the first half, dominating for long periods against a Red Elephants team that needed Gaines at his best to stay close.

The Gainesville goalkeeper came up with four key saves in the first half, denying Vicente Trujillo, Inmer Vanegas and Chris Henry.

But Gaines couldn’t keep out Carillo with 13:21 left in the first half, as the junior striker rose to meet Henry’s long throw-in, heading past the Gainesville keeper from six yards.

“They’re a great team,” Howard said of the Knights. “They’re big, strong, really well-coached and do a lot of the little things very well.”

But Gainesville rebounded in the second half, fighting harder for loose balls in midfield and pushing further forward through attackers Yanes, Russ Puckett, Carlos Sanchez and Aidan Riesing.

“I just told them to relax, start trying to possess the ball and not panic,” Howard said. “We did look a little bit whooped in the first half, but we weren’t beat, and that woke them up.”

Yanes’ goal also proved key to the turnaround, as the forward gathered a free kick from Perez, turned and poked a shot past Knights goalkeeper Alan Garcia from eight yards.

The strike leveled the score at 1-1 and injected Gainesville with confidence, as the Red Elephants began to take the game to the hosts.

Perez came close to putting Gainesville in front with 26 minutes remaining, clipping the Johnson crossbar on a 25-yard free kick. Sanchez then missed his own golden opportunity with 10 minutes remaining, gathering a cross from Gabriel Osorio, turning and firing a point blank shot at the Knights upright from 10 yards.

“Johnson’s such a good team, I was really worried,” Howard said, “because you’ve got to capitalize on your chances against a team like that, and we didn’t always do that tonight.”

Except when it counted most.