Perryville soccer team scores in final minute, advances to Class 2 state championship

BLUE SPRINGS, Mo. -- A few hours before the Perryville soccer team took the field against St. Pius X of Kansas City on Friday, Conner Stark wasn't sure he would get to play.

The junior midfielder suffered through a bad case of food poisoning the previous night and in the hours before game time.

Perryville coach Jerry Fulton said he nearly took Stark out of the lineup, but had a gut feeling that he would have an impact on the game.

"Until two o'clock this afternoon I was ready to scratch him from the lineup," Fulton said about Stark. "He threw up all night and all day today, believe it or not. I shoved Pedialyte in him and got him to the point where he would be able to play."

In a tie game with under a minute to play, Fulton's decision to let Stark play proved to be the game-changing moment the Pirates needed.

The two teams appeared to be headed into overtime when Perryville took the ball deep into St. Pius' zone. The Pirates could never get a clean shot on goal before the ball was cleared by a defender. The ball rolled out of bounds on the right side of the field near the end line for a throw-in. Perryville junior Kyle Wood picked up the ball, waited for his teammates to get in position and launched a pass right to the middle of the box for Stark, who leaped over a St. Pius defender and sent a head ball into the back of the net with 37 seconds remaining.

Stark's goal proved to be the game winner as Perryville (28-1) hung on to defeat St. Pius (20-4-1) 3-2 in a Class 2 semifinal at Blue Springs High School. The Pirates will play for the state championship at 3 p.m. Saturday.

"I really didn't expect to be in that position when this day started," Stark said. "I was feeling a little sluggish and just not feeling it. It got better as the day went on and as soon as Kyle picked up that ball I knew something was about to go down. We do that quite a bit on corners and throw-ins and I know Kyle can throw it pretty far, so I was pretty confident he was going to get it to me and he did."

Perryville's Conner Stark settles the ball in the first half of the Class 2 State Semifinal against St. Pius X of Kansas City at Blue Springs High School Friday, Nov. 14, 2014. (Glenn Landberg)

Wood said he felt confident in his strong throwing ability, and trusted Stark, who he's been playing with since the age of 7, to get open.

"We kind of looked at one another and gave a nod," Wood said. "I saw Con coming around the back side, and I just knew wherever I was going to throw it he was going to be there. I just launched it at him and he was there like always. It's the most amazing thing I've seen all year."

The Pirates got off to a quick start, scoring a goal on their first trip down the field. Less than two minutes into the game, Mike Volansky controlled a pass at midfield from senior Matt Moran. Volansky dribbled down the middle of the field before dishing a pass off to Wood. The junior outran a defender and took the ball into the box before rocketing a shot into the left corner past the diving St. Pius goalie Austin Mendez.

"It was very important for us to get ahead first," Wood said. "We had the confidence to keep going and put them down quick and early."

In the 30th minute, Wood scored the Pirates' second goal just a few feet in front of where he scored his first goal.

Moran intercepted a pass on the right side of the field and quickly got it up to Wood in the right corner. Wood slowed down and waited for the ball, giving the illusion to defenders that he was offsides, then he raced past a defender and drove to the net before ripping a shot and scoring to give the Pirates a two-goal advantage.

The Pirates controlled the game for much of the first half and outshot the Warriors 7-6. However, just before halftime Perryville senior Collin Stief was called for an inadvertent handball, setting up a free kick for the Warriors a few feet in front of the Perryville box.

Chris Theis took the shot for St. Pius and drove the ball over the five-man wall Perryville had set up and into the left corner of the goal with 2:46 remaining in the first.

Perryville goalie Luke Dobbelare said he didn't have a chance of saving it.

"The free kick was just a great kick. There was nothing anybody could do about it," Dobbelare said. "He chipped it straight over our wall and into the corner."

The Warriors came out a lot stronger in the second half and kept the ball in the Pirates' zone for a majority of the time.

With 34 minutes to play, St. Pius tied the game when Luis Rizek deflected a shot that bounced off the turf and past Dobbelare, who did not have a play on the ball.

Perryville fans Taylor Cissell, right, and Maddie Steffens cheer at the end of the Class 2 State Semifinal against St. Pius X at Blue Springs High School Friday, Nov. 14, 2014. (Glenn Landberg)

Fulton said the Pirates forgot to play their style of game on both sides of the ball for most of the final half.

"For a minute there we had a memory lapse on what we wanted to do," Fulton said. "We kept trying to fight up the middle, fight up the middle. We weren't going to win the battle up the middle. We don't want to win the battle up the middle. We want to play the ball outside. I had to remind the guys how we scored our first two goals and we had talked about that all week."

Perryville fought off three more St. Pius attacks before Stark scored the game-winning goal.

The Pirates will take on Soldan International Studies in the Class 2 championship. The Tigers knocked off Springfield Catholic in the other semifinal.

Perryville will have little time to celebrate its win. Instead, the Pirates will prepare for a game they've longed for all season.

"These guys have showed up for every huge game and now they're playing in the game they've wanted to play in for a long time," Fulton said. "Worst case scenario we're going back with second place, but I don't think that's going to happen. I think these boys will finish what they started."