Despite keeping Peachtree Ridge on its heels for long spells Tuesday night, South Forsyth could not finish the job.

After 90 minutes and five successfully converted shootout kicks by both teams failed to determine a winner, Zach Morgan put the Lions in front 6-5 in sudden death with a well-executed high shot.

South’s Chase Middleton followed and, like Morgan, he opted to go up the middle, but Lions goalkeeper Tyler Young stood his ground and batted away the effort to end the game.

It was the second straight shootout loss of the night for coach Tom Braun, whose boys came from behind to lead their Region 7-AAAAA rivals 2-1 before being pegged back midway through the second half.

“Unfortunately, we came out on the losing end … but the kids played extremely hard,” said Braun. “We had a few injuries and played great.”

The War Eagles (1-6) had the bulk of the early opportunities and almost scored in the second minute. J. Golden’s corner, delivered from the left, was met by a header from Tyler Rising, whose effort flew just inches over the crossbar.

A fluid passing game continued for the War Eagles, who carved the visitors open again after 13 minutes. A neat Cal Crewdson through ball was delivered to Washington Cafferatta’s feet, and the striker forced goalkeeper Tyler Young into a fine save.

Having survived the early pressure, the visitors settled and moved into a 30th minute lead through Jeremy Rector.
Andres Rodriguez was the provider, whipping a cross into the goal mouth. South goalkeeper Kyler Kelsey, trying to prevent an opponent reaching the cross, dived forward and palmed the ball straight to Rector. The striker capitalized on the easy rebound.

The contest then opened up more, with both teams carving out opportunities in the last 10 minutes of the first-half.
But once the action resumed, South immediately went on the attack.

After winning a pair of corners, Cafferatta found Rising in the six-yard box. Appearing to learn from his previous miss, Rising sent the header downward into the turf, under the goalkeeper and across the line.

Continuing their attack from the wings, the Eagles went 2-1 ahead 10 minutes later. A free kick just outside the visitors’ penalty area flew into the wall, with Rising picking up the rebound and sending it out wide to Michael Vega.
Seeing Omar Ramirez running into the penalty area, he played a short pass to the striker, who smashed it in from 10 yards.

“We try to use width as much as we can and spread it wide,” said Braun. “That’s our game — exploit the flanks as much as possible.”

However, it was all square again in the 63rd minute following a free kick award. The referee signaled an infringement just outside South’s penalty area as two players challenged for possession. Peachtree Ridge’s Garrett McClurry curled the ball around the wall and into the top corner, just beyond the reach of freshman Kelsey.

The final 20 regulation minutes saw both teams pouring forward without further scoring success.