Soccer: Pirates advance to semifinals

POLSON - Locked in a 1-1 tie with precious minutes ticking away on the clock in the first round of the Montana state playoffs, Corvallis' head coach Brock Hammill made a prophetic statement to Polsons' coach Jess Kittle.

"It's going to come right down to the wire," Hammill said to his friend Kittle from his sideline box.

It did. In the 76th minute, Pirate sophomore Jon Huetmaker, who received an over-the-top assist from junior Jon Murphy in front of the goal, had the ball come off his foot, and deflected off senior Sean Hart's knee into the net for the go-ahead goal.

"It was just great," Huetmaker, who was credited with the assist, said. "It was just a great feeling."

That goal had the same affect as an entire roll of TUMS, as the team, coaching staff and fans at the Polson Sports Complex suffered through an anxious 25 minutes in the second half where Corvallis was applying serious pressure to the Pirates.

"Man, Corvallis was playing really hard," Kittle, who won his first playoff game, said. "Corvallis really had the momentum."

The Pirates came out in control in the first half as Kittle switched senior forward Sean Hart to the right wing position, causing a mismatch on defense for Corvallis.

That allowed Hart to beat his man, cross to fellow senior Trever Moll who put it in the back of the net for the early 1-0 lead in the 15th minute. When Corvallis tied things up in the 51st minute, Polson had to show the intestinal fortitude to hang on.

“You just got to give everything,” Huetmaker said of his team’s defense.

Kittle said he thought the game was headed to overtime. The senior-laden Corvallis team didn’t wither in the situation.

“They didn’t give up,” Kittle said. “They know they can come from behind.”

The Pirates will now gear up for a Saturday state semifinal matchup against the second seed from the east conference, Belgrade. Early in the season, Polson lost to Belgrade 1-0 but they were going through an offensive drought at the time, something the Pirates have obviously remedied — winners of seven straight and a conference championship.

Polson will host Belgrade on Saturday at 2:00 p.m. in the State Class A soccer Semi-Finals.  The game is an MHSA event and no season passes are allowed.