By RYAN ARENA

L’Observateur

LAPLACE –E.D. White was loud and proud, celebrating the most intense of wins.

St. Charles, meanwhile, was quiet and withdrawn, wondering how things went wrong.

For two teams, a district championship match couldn’t be settled for 100 minutes of play. But after two halves, two overtimes, and a combined 12 shootout kicks, the Cardinals captured the District 7-III championship, 2-1, after the Comets’ final kick missed its mark to the right netting E.D. White a 6-5 shootout win.

The Cardinals (11-4-2, 6-0) clinched District 7-III outright with the win. Had St. Charles (6-10-2, 4-2) won, the teams would have split district championship honors.

The match was tied 1-1 at the end of regulation and two 10-minute overtime periods

“For a high school soccer match, it doesn’t get any better,” said E.D. White coach Roger Bimah. “Our team is emotionally exhausted right now. And sometimes that kind of game is what you need to get ready for the playoffs.”

Said St. Charles coach Bill Ballard: “Everyone’s disappointed. But we took a young group and had the district championship come down to PK’s. I don’t think anyone leaves this field with their heads hanging.”

E.D. White’s Benton Bimah scored his team’s sixth and deciding goal in the shootout.

Much like in the first match between the teams in Thibodaux, the Comets took a 1-0 lead into halftime.

This time, it was Bradley Odom’s short kick into a wide open Cardinal net at the 29 minute mark of the first half that lifted SCC into the lead. He received a pass from Ben Brady and found an opening after E.D. White goalkeeper Jesse Cortez came out to secure the ball unsuccessfully.

But 10 minutes into the second half, the tide turned. E.D. White’s Eric St. Romain took a shot and scored when the ball deflected off of a Comet player’s leg into the net.

“We definitely had our chances to score early. I thought we had some real solid opportunities in the first few minutes that if convert, it doesn’t go to overtime,” said Bimah. “But we certainly got a break on that deflection.”

From there, a defensive battle ensued. Shots on goal were few and far between. E.D. White’s Jordan Galjour had a chance to make it 2-1 on a header, but SCC goalkeeper Gerard Giangrosso came up with a key save. In the second overtime, Ian Denys had a shot to get his Cardinals a 2-1 win, but he’d miss wide of the goal.

But the Cardinals had one more bullet in the chamber.

“There were two teams with no quit in them,” Bimah said. “Just two good high school soccer teams.”

Said SCC senior Daniel Ballard: “We did what we did all week at practice. We went to sudden death with ranked E.D. White. We’re just little St. Charles and competed with them.”

Both teams qualify for the playoffs and should learn today who they will face.

“If we play like we played tonight,” said coach Ballard, “I feel like we’ve got a shot against anyone.”