Collinsville 1 win from championship

Two years after making history, Collinsville High School’s soccer team is on the verge of doing it again.

The No. 9-ranked Panthers got a clutch performance from keeper Adan Morales and edged No. 4 Randolph 2-1 in a Class 1A-4A state semifinal decided by penalty kicks Friday at the Huntsville Soccer Complex.

With the win, Collinsville (13-7-7) advanced to the state championship match, clearing the semifinal barrier first time in three attempts. Collinsville is making its third straight Final Four appearance, having become the first 1A public school and first all-Hispanic team to get there in 2011.

The Panthers will face No. 7 Westminster-Oak Mountain (13-3-4) on Saturday at 12:30 p.m. Westminster downed No. 1 UMS-Wright (16-6-5) 1-0 in the other semifinal.

“It’s a huge win,” Collinsville coach Julie Little said. “Again, it’s making history for the program. I think it’s a huge momentum push for the boys going into [Saturday]. It kind of proves that they’re there because they deserve to be there and not for any other reason — [proves] that they’re a good team.”

Collinsville’s first win at the Big Dance might not have happened without Morales. He saved a penalty kick in regulation after a teammate drew a red card for a handball in the box, then saved two more PKs in the shootout.

“He had a spectacular game,” Little said. “He’s a big reason that we won that game. The saves on the PKs were huge, and the save on the PK in regulation was spectacular.”

Collinsville won the shootout 4-1, with Rodrigo Garcia scoring the clincher. David Hernandez, Angel Sanchez and Jorge Segura also converted their PKs.

Morales saved Randolph’s first and fourth shots, and it’s third hit the crossbar.

Hernandez gave Collinsville 1-0 lead when he scored on a header off a corner kick for Segura with 20:47 to play. Randolph (15-7-3) tied it with 7:45 remaining.

Collinsville played the final 11 minutes of regulation and a pair of five-minute, sudden-death overtime periods a man down after the handball.

It rained extensively before the match and on and off during it.

“The boys played spectacular,” Little said. “It was a wet and sloppy, and it makes your feet heavy. I had a couple of starters have cramping issues, and then we went a man down while were still up 1-0, but they didn’t quit, and even after we gave up the equalizing goal, they didn’t back down. Losing was not an option going into this game.”

Randolph outshot Collinsville 13-6. Morales made 12 saves.

Collinsville and Westminster played to a tie during a regular-season meeting. Little said making a quick transition mentally would be a kick to winning the title Saturday.

“We’ve got to do the same things we did going into this game,” she said. “We’ve got to be focused. You want to celebrate, but you can’t celebrate too much because you have a game tomorrow. You have to be focused and ready to play.”