The two teams met in last year’s Class 2, District 1 championship game with Perryville ultimately prevailing on its way to the Class 2 championship game.
Perryville and Saxony Lutheran could certainly meet in that same game again later this fall, and if the regular season matchup between the two teams is to be any indication, the contest will be a good one.
Saxony and Perryville battled to a scoreless tie for 100 minutes before a penalty kick shootout was needed to decide the winner. Saxony Lutheran prevailed 4-1, making every one of its attempts to outlast Perryville at the Bank of Missouri Soccer Complex Oct. 6.
“It was a great high school soccer game,” Saxony Lutheran coach Chris Crawford said. “I don’t know if you can take much of it of in terms of who is better because penalty kicks can go any way at any time. I felt good about the way we played and the way we battled together.”
Crawford doesn’t watch his team take penalty kicks because of the anxious nature of the event, but if he did he would have seen Max Richey, Noah Smith, Michael Hasz and Luke Eggemeyer bury their attempts in the back of the net.
Kale Adams made the lone tally for Perryville in the shootout as one hit the post and another was saved by Saxony goalkeeper Aaron Zoellner.
For Perryville coach Jerry Fulton and his team, it was their third time this season in a penalty kick shootout and Fulton felt like the “law of averages” were against them.
“We won the first two,” Fulton said. “Waylon got his hands on three of the four attempts and I just had a feeling when we went to PKs it wasn’t going to turn out well because I have never seen a team win every shootout they have been in.”
But it wasn’t like Saxony Lutheran or Perryville didn’t have their chances in regulation to come away with the victory.
Treyton Barnett had a point-blank shot go over the cross bar with two minutes remaining in the second half and Zoellner made another few key saves to keep the game scoreless. He ended the game with eight saves.
“I felt like we had a majority of the better chances and outplayed them in the game for the most part,” Fulton said. “We didn’t shoot well in the PKs tonight and things like that can happen when you let the game come down to that.”
Saxony Lutheran had its chances too, including a shot that went wide on a breakaway in the second overtime. However, Saxony’s best chances came midway through the second half when freshman goalkeeper Waylon Huber made two quick saves on point blank shots. He made four within a 10-minute span, including coming out of the box to stop a breakaway by Boland. Ashton Anshultz played in the net during the first half.
“You can’t blame the keeper for the outcome tonight,” Fulton said. “What he did in the second half during that barrage was incredible. I don’t know how he kept the ball out the net.”
The win gives Saxony (8-8) 3-0 record against district opponents, which should give the Crusaders a leg up in terms of seeding for the tournament which has three of the seven teams with a winning record (Perryville, Affton, Bayless) and St. Pius (7-8) is also in that district as well.
“When you are looking at it anyone seeded 1-5 could win it,” Crawford said. “It’s one of those things where we are going to have to play three quality opponents and hope you are the one that is left. Games like this can give us the confidence that we can compete with the teams in our district.”
