McGee’s golden goal sends Bob Jones to soccer final

HUNTSVILLE – Bob Jones struck first with a goal just over a minute into the game, got another tally in the opening two minutes of the second half and finally got a game-winning golden goal with just seconds left in double overtime.

Zachary McGee dribbled past a defender a few yards into the middle of the penalty box, then planted a shot into the upper left corner of the net to lift the Patriots past Hewitt-Trussville 3-2 in a Class 7A boys soccer state semifinal.

“As soon as I hit it, I knew it was going in,” McGee told reporters after the game.

Bob Jones (17-5-1) now seeks its first soccer championship against Auburn (19-4-2) in a 9 a.m. final at the Loretta P. Spencer Sports Complex at John Hunt Park. Hewitt-Trussville (xx) sent the game into overtime when it scored with 31.5 seconds left to play in regulation.

Arnav Maskey, a Harvard signee, scored the first two goals for Bob Jones (17-5-1) just after the start of each half in regulation.

The stat sheet told a tale of a tightly fought battle:

Hewitt-Trussville led 17-16 in shots. An even 7-7 shots on goal, and an even 15-15 in shots faced. The Huskies held a slight 5-4 lead in corners. Bob Jones committed more fouls, though, 13-8. All goals were unassisted. The goalkeepers—Bryant Steele for the Huskies and Jose Guzman for the Patriots—both made four saves.

Maskey scored 1:09 into the match, and Hewitt-Trussville’s Brennan Greer tied it at 1-all with a penalty kick goal 24 seconds later.

In the second half, Maskey made it 2-1 on a penalty kick at the 41:34 mark. It appeared that lead might hold up as the clock moved inside one minute, but the Huskies’ Jason Merriweather notched things at 2-all on a goal with 31.5 seconds remaining in regulation.

After a scoreless first overtime, McGee’s dramatic goal ended it before time could run out on the second extra period.

Weather delays interrupted play Wednesday, and some matches were moved from Wednesday night to Thursday. Bob Jones, however, was confident its semifinal clash would go off as scheduled.

“A NASA weatherman (Chris Schultz) is on my staff as the freshman coach,’’ Patriots head coach Michael Parker said Wednesday. “He thinks we’re going to be good (Thursday).”

He was right as rain, which is predicted to have just a slight chance to intervene Saturday morning.

Before the game against the Huskies, Parker predicted the winning team would be the one that “doesn’t let the moment get too big for them.’’ The Patriots certainly weren’t overwhelmed Thursday, and will try to take the same tenor into the championship game.

All matches are scheduled to be live video streamed by the NFHS Network and are available for viewing on the NFHS subscriber-based platform. Go to www.nfhsnetwork.com for more information.

Auburn 4, Fairhope 4-1: In the other 7A boys semifinal, Jackson Heisler scored two goals and Daniel Gamet and Clifton Pace scored one apiece for the Tigers, who broke away from a 1-all tie in the final 34:57.

Ryan Nichols had two assists, and William Ballard added one. Auburn held a 14-10 shots advantage with goalkeeper Brody Cobine collecting three saves.