Semifinal #1 2010 Boys State Soccer

Weirdest soccer game I've ever seen in my life. Century had one of the Captains - a central defender - the goalkeeper and the backup keeper all suspended for hazing one of the freshman players Friday night. Jon Rings, one of 4 seniors on the team, volunteered to go in to goal. He has not played keeper since he was a U15 summer soccer player. He did an admirable job and helped hold a huge Fargo North team to 2 goals. The fireworks started early when Jon's twin brother Jason got two yellow cards in the first half, as did a player from North. Two yellows are considered a "soft" red in high school so you have to leave this game and sit out the next - 2nd end of high school career of the day. North had a 1-0 lead late in the half when Century captain Tom Keller clears a ball to prevent the North player from getting to it. Most soccer fields in North Dakota have no bleachers so the (few) fans usually line up in lawn chairs 8 feet off the sideline. Keller rips the ball which hits an 80 year old woman square in the forehead and knocks her out. They work on her most of the halftime and she insists on staying, but left about 10 minutes into the 2nd, I hope to get checked at the hospital for a concussion. With the wind (30 mph from the south) in their favor, Century scored three goals in a 20 minute span. After the 3rd goal was scored by Tom Keller, he was walking from inside the goal back onto the field when the North Keeper grabbed him by the shoulders and tripped him over an out stretched leg. The biggest problem with that was that the Referee was standing about 10 feet away and saw the whole thing. He immediately pulls out the red card and sends off the Keeper. At this point North is down 3-1, playing with 10 men and into the wind. They persevered and managed to score one more when a Century defender took a bad touch in a ball in the box and set up a prefect shot for a North Player. For the rest of the game Century continued to push the ball upfield and kept pinning them back in their own zone. As time was winding down Tom Keller (again!) clears a ball 40 yards out of bounds with just seconds on the clock. as he turned to run up the sideline a North player grabbed him by the back of the neck and proceeded to attempt a choke hold. The Referee was not impressed. Another red card, another very embarrassing case of poor sportsmanship on the part of Fargo North, and probably lucky if charges aren't filed. On the other field, undefeated Shanley built a 1-0 lead with the wind. In the 2nd half West Fargo tied it, took the lead, and then Shanley tied it again. Finally West Fargo put in a winner to advance to the Championship game tomorrow at 3:00 against the ever younger Century team.