Tuscarora High boys win first state soccer crown
Titans clinch Class 3A title in shootout
Tom Fedor/The Gazette
Tuscarora High soccer celebrates victory on Nov. 13.
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Maryland Community Newspapers Online
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Tom Fedor/The Gazette
Tuscarora High soccer celebrates victory on Nov. 13.
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Jaime Ramirez and the Tuscarora High School boys soccer team are starting to get the hang of winning playoff games by shoot-out.
The Titans pierced through the fog and darkness to outshoot Harford County's Fallston, 4-2, in penalty kicks to give them a 2-1 triumph in the Class 3A State championship on Nov. 13 at the University of Maryland Baltimore County.
It was the second time during this playoff run that Ramirez got the game-winning shot for the Titans.
He also made the winner against Kennedy in the West Region semifinal.
Against the Cougars, Ramirez's shot went low and to the right, hitting the post. It bounced hard, but back and to the left. He admitted that he initially thought he missed the shot.
"For a second, I did," Ramirez said. "But then I saw it was good. It feels great."
The two teams were tied 1-1 after regulation. Michael Greene scored early for Tuscarora. But a penalty kick from the Cougars' Dominic Welsh with 16 minutes and 11 seconds left in the first half wiped it out. The two squads held each other at a standstill for the next 76 minutes of play, including two golden goal overtimes.
With 3 minutes and 20 seconds left in regulation play, the Titans (10-6-2) almost shut the game down when Ritchie Reyes unloaded a spinning shot towards the opposite post, catching Fallston goalie Kirk Fromille on the other side. The only problem with the shot is that it went straight into Kevin Ruzbacki, Reyes' teammate.
In the shootout, Fallston attacked first, with Welsh getting his team an early 1-0 lead. Sean Duggan then immediately tied it back up.
In the second round of shots, Fallston's Eric Croucher almost had his shot blocked out by Tuscarora goalie Mitch Kelman.
"I got most of my fingers," Kelman said. "I should have punched it, it wouldn't have gone back into the goal."
Kelman didn't let it get him down, though, and the next two Fallston shots were misses.
Tuscarora pounced onto the advantage, with Quinn Meehan tying the game up with a shot to the right. Ritchie Reyes was the first shooter to go to the left, and the Fallston goalie froze up while initially lurching against a shot to the right.