Do the right thing all the time for eighty minutes.
That was the Lady Royals’ motto throughout all of 2023, and more often than not, it worked for them. Having made it all the way to the 38th district championship game, looking to face off against the Pendleton County Lady Cats, a team they walked away from with a tie in the regular season, Mason County was hopeful at the kick off of Wednesday night’s game.
Their hope quickly had to turn into grit however, with Pendleton County shooting out ahead to lead 1-0 midway through the first half.
Both Mason County and Pendleton County were playing extremely aggressively. A win from this game would make history for both programs, with the Harrison County Fillies maintaining an iron grip on the district championship for the past eight years. Pendleton County was the last to win it back in 2014. Mason County has never walked away with a 38th district championship, and was hoping to change that this go around.
A grueling back and forth and nearly twenty minutes later, the Lady Royals slipped on past Lady Cats goalkeeper, Maddie Musk to tie the game back 1-1. However, Pendleton County would end the Lady Royals’ celebration rather quickly, chipping another goal in on the opposite end of the field shortly thereafter.
The game was 2-1 at halftime, both the Lady Royals and the Lady Cats putting everything they had on the field in order to get one up over their opponents.
“They left it on the field literally. You can’t go out and play a game like that and have regrets. I don’t think anyone should have any regrets, they all played their hearts out and I’m really proud of them.” said Lady Royals head coach, Amy Cottam.
Pendleton County would score again early on in the second half, to cement what they thought was a winning 3-1 lead over the Lady Royals. Unfortunately for the Lady Cats however, Mason County has gotten used to digging themselves out of holes, and bounced back throughout the second half.
Two well placed goals later, Mason County had tied the game up yet again, with the score holding strong at 3-3 with around ten minutes left in the second half.
“We just told them to stay focused. Yeah, it’s three to one, we were able to come back earlier in the season against the team, and I said you guys know how to do this, you know what you need to do, so go do it, and they did.” said coach Cottam.
As the remainder of the second half ticked down minute after minute, the Lady Royals continued to attack Pendleton County’s goal, hoping to squeeze out just one more before they would be forced to head into overtime, but it didn’t happen. The 3-3 score would stay locked in until the buzzer sounded, causing the two teams to hit the sidelines to get prepped for their first five minute overtime of the game.
After the kickoff, Mason County stayed in complete offensive control of the ball throughout nearly all of the five minute overtime, but proved unable to put one past Musk to pull ahead of the Lady Cats. The one offensive push made by Pendleton County this go around would make it to the goal line, but the Lady Royals were able to regain control of the ball, and would hold on to it until the buzzer sounded.
Pendleton County would take the ball at the top of the second overtime, but would struggle to fight past Mason County’s defense, the game remaining 3-3 at the end of the five minutes.
With all eighty minutes of regulation time, and two five minute overtimes behind them, the two teams now went on to penalty kicks to decide the winner of the 38th district tournament. Mason County goalkeeper Kaelynn Henning missed her first few blocks, but Mason County kickers were able to sail goals past Musk to keep the game winnable. Unfortunately for the Lady Royals, Pendleton County already had one goal up over Mason County, and a second missed block from Henning would send the Lady Cats over the Lady Royals for the victory.
The Mason County huddle post-game was filled with reassurance from the Lady Royal’s coaching staff, and motivation for Mason County’s next game, coming up next week.
“I’m proud. I’m very proud of the fight, the heart, the determination and the girt to comeback. We were down the whole game, then to come back to tie it up and give us the opportunity in overtime, that shows a lot of mental toughness. It shows we know how to dig deep and play hard, it just wasn’t in the cards for us.” said coach Cottam.
As district runners-up, the Lady Royals will now tackle the 10th region tournament coming up next week. Mason County will draw for their opponent this coming Saturday, with a site yet to be announced.