OAKWOOD — Down a goal twice, including 2-1 at halftime to Woodward Academy in the Class 5A semifinals, there was no panic in the Johnson boys soccer team.
Junior captain Angel Sagrero said not on his watch.
“I wanted to bring my team as a captain to the state finals. Even when we were down we just said stay calm, move the ball, make them tired, and we executed,” Sagrero said.
Sagrero also got the rare opportunity to shoot his team into the championship match, converting on the last of five straight penalty kicks as the Knights rallied for a 3-2 win, 5-3 in the PK round.
“I knew as the captain I had to do it for my team, the community, all the fans in the stands. It just feels great right now.”
(UPDATE: The Knights will take on McIntosh in the Class 5A state title game on Thursday at 8 p.m. at McEachern High School. It will be a rematch of the 2018 Class 5A title match, a 1-0 Johnson victory in Macon that year.)
It’s hard to get that panic feeling, however, when senior keeper Steven Flores and sophomore striker Jorge Sandoval were just waiting to make their marks.
Sandoval scored both of Johnson’s regulation goals, including a beautiful sequence beating two Woodward defenders inside the box and then finding the bottom left corner of the net on a 10-yard blast to tie the match midway through the second half.
From there, the Knights (16-4-1) turned to their stingy defense and Flores, who made a huge save in the penalty kick round that was the difference.
“I really just made a good guess on where the guy was going and I dove that way and was able to stop it,” said Flores, who almost didn’t get the chance after having to come out in the first half after a scary collision with the ground.
“I made a save and then I hit the ground with my head. I was able to get back out there but I had pain the whole game.”
In the PK round, Eliam Chavez, Ramon Aguilar, Kevin Castillo, Jose Galicia, and Sagrero all converted in the PK round. Flores smothered a shot by Ethan Gill, who scored both Woodward goals in the first half, in the opening round. The War Eagles converted the next three but Sagrero finished off a perfect PK to send the Knights to the title match.
“The adversity from the beginning of the season really helped prepare us for moments like this,” Johnson coach Frank Zamora said. “We went to PKs multiple times this year so once we got there we felt pretty good.
“Steven has done a great job for us all season. He always seems to block one or two in a PK round so then it’s just on the kickers. The guys went out and executed.”
Both teams came out looking to attack but the War Eagles (16-3-1) got the opening break of the match when Flores was forced from the game and replaced by backup Arturo Mata.
The Knights appeared to have their first break when Sandoval was taken down in the box in the 22’. But it produced a big no-call instead. The War Eagles countered that quickly downfield but the Knights’ Landon Avalos denied Cade Cahoon’s breakaway bid.
Woodward’s second corner produced the match’s first goal three minutes later. Gill found the net past a screened Mata on a nifty header off a corner from Christian Cameron for a 1-0 lead.
The Knights answered back quickly, however, as Sandoval gathered a pass, turned, and blasted a left-footed shot 20-yards past diving Woodward keeper Sean Petrini in the 28’.
But Cameron and Gill struck again a minute later on another set free kick with Gill sliding another header past Mata for a 2-1 lead. After the goal, however, the War Eagles’ Jordan Claggette was given a red card for excessive celebration putting them a man down for the rest of the match.
Flores returned with 7 minutes left in the first half and made another save while the offense produced its first corner but could not convert as they went to the half with the War Eagles leading 2-1.
The Knights attacked out of the half getting a quick shot from Abraham Gomez that required a diving save. The Knights got a corner a minute later but the two teams then battled at midfield until a wild sequence in the 50th minute in which a War Eagles assistant coach received a red card for arguing after a yellow to a Woodward player.
That seemed to fire up the Johnson offense.
Moments later Sandoval tied the game with his acrobatic move.
"I was able to check into the open gaps,turn, and get a shot off," Sandoval said. "No team likes to lose but this team is something else. It's a lot of fun to be on."
With the War Eagles a man down, the Knights continued to press the attack in the final 10 minutes. Petrini made two gigantic saves, one off a Sandoval blast from 6-yards, and another off a Christian Robles blast with 40 seconds left, to keep it tied and send it to overtime.
In the overtime periods, Johnson had three more point-blank range shots that Petrini was able to deny to send it the PK round.
