TWINSBURG — Bryce Peckinpaugh laughed as he walked off the rain-soaked pitch minutes after Aurora’s celebration died down. The Greenmen senior keeper seemed to be laughing at the absurdity of it all.
Aurora dominated early, suffered a series of potentially fatal blows late and somehow emerged with the 3-2 (5-3) victory over Canfield in their Division III regional semifinal.
“We’ve preached it since day one that these guys have to ride the waves,” Greenmen coach Louis Kastelic said. “Every team that’s left in the tournament is a great team. You know you’re going to be playing some talented players on the other side, and if they score a goal, as long as it’s not a walk-off, the game’s not over, so you just have to keep playing together, and that was the key thing we stress is family together. Lift each other up, don’t bring each other down, and I think these guys have been living by it all season long and you can see it in them.”
The Greenmen (16-1-4) certainly had to ride some big waves against the Cardinals. In regulation, Aurora saw its 2-0 lead fade away. In overtime, the Greenmen absorbed the loss of their leading scorer — Jordan West — to a second yellow card. And then Aurora senior Owen Peckinpaugh had a potential game-winning goal waved off due to a controversial foul call.
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Somehow, Peckinpaugh walked it off again — this time for good — in penalty kicks.
His twin, Bryce, set the moment up with a save. Tack on four straight successful penalty kicks — by Cam Gentille, Kam Warnke, Griffin McMaster and Barry Wagner — and Aurora led 4-3 when Owen Peckinpaugh delivered the clinching penalty kick to the lower-right corner of the net.
“I knew stepping up, I have everybody behind me,” Peckinpaugh said. “I got my keeper, my brother, who I know is going to back me. I got the fans, who I know are going to back me, and I just had to do the easy part and put it in the net.”
Aurora starts strong, Canfield extends the night
In the understatement of the century, neither team quit.
Canfield could have folded early, no question about it. After all, Aurora couldn’t have asked for a better start. In the game’s first minute, Gentille sent a corner kick to Wagner, who had space to operate on the far side of the box. Wagner headed Gentille’s corner home for a quick lead.
Not even six minutes later, the Greenmen struck again as Warnke lined a free kick into the left edge of the net for a 2-0 lead. Before Warnke fired, West moved as if he was going to take the shot. A number of Aurora’s other leading scorers were also clustered around the free kick, creating additional confusion.
“We called one play, and then as they walked out, they were communicating something to me, and I said, ‘You play what you see at the end of the day,'” Kastelic said. “Kam saw the goal and obviously buried it. It’s just awesome. I love when that type of stuff works out.”
The Cardinals recovered, starting with a set piece of their own as Chase Cuffle headed home a Brady Casey corner in the 17th minute. Alexander Dace added the tying goal in the 73rd minute off a one-timer in the middle of the box.
The craziness was just beginning.
Warnke barely missed a game-winning goal early in overtime when he one-timed a Wagner cross just wide of the right post in the 84th minute. The Cardinals thought they had a winner in the 91st minute but were whistled for interfering with the keeper prior to the goal. The first overtime period was full of near misses and yellow cards, with West’s ranking as the most important since he was out for the remainder of the night.
The second overtime period saw more near misses, not to mention an injury to Canfield leading scorer Drew Snyder.
Both teams were down their leading scorer.
And the Greenmen had to play a man down for roughly 17 minutes to force penalty kicks.
Aurora’s celebration delayed, not denied as Greenmen deliver in penalty kicks
Kastelic doesn’t overly stress penalty kicks in practice. If anything, the coach guessed the Greenmen spend less time on them than a lot of teams.
“It’s something that we’ve worked on, but I’m not a big proponent of continuously practicing penalty kicks and getting in one’s head,” Kastelic said. “At the end of the day, we try them here and there and get a feel for who’s going to step up and take them and be confident, and that’s what I preach to these guys is don’t overthink it.”
Gentille started the shootout with a laser inside the right post to take a 1-0 lead. Bryce Peckinpaugh nearly followed with a save, but the ball glanced off the tip of his hands, ricocheted off the post and just barely crossed the line.
“Because I got the touch, I knew I was going to end up getting to at least one more,” Peckinpaugh said. “So I knew I had to make the most of the next opportunity, and I trusted all my takers to make all theirs, and they did that.”
Warnke put Aurora back in front, getting the keeper to dive the wrong way on another liner. Ryan Dangol tied it on a successful kick of his own. The Greenmen got separation on the third round of kicks as Griffin McMaster — in the midst of a brilliant night on defense — also got the keeper to guess wrong. Peckinpaugh followed with a shrewd step right before sidling left to save Nick Atsas’ attempt.
“Body feints, motions are allowed, so I kind of use that to my advantage,” Peckinpaugh said. “I stick an arm out one way, I shift one way and then [do] the other stuff like that.”
Aurora nearly walked it off on the fourth set of kicks as Wagner fired his penalty kick into the left side of the net and Peckinpaugh stopped Luke Goodrich’s shot with a quick foot. Except the ball trickled off his foot and rolled just over the line.
Bryce Peckinpaugh had to step aside, Aurora’s celebration temporarily delayed. Owen Peckinpaugh ensured the Greenmen’s celebration was merely delayed, not denied.
“He does his normal routine and I’ve seen him take thousands of penalties over our lifetime,” Bryce Peckinpaugh said. “And I knew he was going to bury it.”
Next up
The Greenmen will next play Holland Springfield Nov. 2 in a regional championship game at Edison High School. The time of the game has not been announced.
Contact Jonah L. Rosenblum at jrosenblum@recordpub.com and follow him on Twitter at @JLRSports.
This article originally appeared on Record-Courier: Peckinpaugh twins, Aurora boys soccer win thrilling regional semifinal in penalty kicks
Reporting by Jonah Rosenblum, Ravenna Record-Courier / Record-Courier
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