Tony Subasic wasn’t about to go against his unwritten rule, even with his Bishop Ward soccer team’s season potentially hanging in the balance.
 
With time ticking away in the third overtime of Ward’s Class 4-1A regional final against Louisburg last Thursday, the Cyclones were finally getting some offensive pressure. With less than a minute to go, the Cyclones played the ball from the right side of the field to the left, getting it to freshman Kevin Santos Jr.
 
Santos maneuvered in for a shot near the left post, but as he went for the shot, a Louisburg defender tackled him inside the box, setting up a penalty kick. And that’s where Subasic’s rules came into play.
 
“I follow it, that if you earn the penalty, you have the first choice if you want to take it or not,” Subasic said.
 
He might have wavered, given that Santos had only had one other such opportunity this season and sent his penalty kick right at the goalkeeper against Olathe Heritage Christian. But Subasic stuck to his guns.
 
“He was feeling particularly confident,” Subasic said. “I trust my guys completely when it comes to this stuff. It’s my fourth year coaching and in the past I’ve had a designated penalty kick taker and that is tough on a kid mentally knowing that ... you have to be a special person to do that. For me, it’s more a ‘most confident in the moment’ situation and I trust my guys. They know themselves and if they’re not feeling it, they can give it up to somebody else.”
 
Santos was feeling it and buried his penalty kick in the back left of the net, giving Ward the thrilling 2-1 triple-overtime win.
 
The regional championship was the first for the Cyclones since 2013, when Subasic was a senior on Ward’s team.
 
With the win, Bishop Ward (13-4-1) has advanced to Tuesday’s Class 4-1A state quarterfinals where it will take on Baldwin (13-4-1). The Cyclones are looking for the program’s first-ever appearance in the state semifinals.
 
It’s been a breakthrough season for Ward, which won just four games three years ago and then seven in 2020. After going 10-6 last year, falling 2-1 in overtime to KC Christian in the regional finals, the Cyclones have taken another step.
 
“Just like any program it goes in waves,” said Subasic, who is in his fourth year with the program and first as head coach. “We’ve been working hard and adding more training in the summertime, really pushing a lot of offseason work. I’m fortunate to have some guys who train in clubs, which is something we haven’t seen in the past. Hopefully we can ride this wave and add more guys doing that.”
 
Ward went 11-4-1 in the regular season with two of the four losses coming to fellow 4-1A quarterfinalist KC Christian – each of those losses by one goal. Three of the Cyclones’ four losses are one-goal defeats and the other was 2-0.
 
After beating Ottawa 4-0 to start the playoffs, Ward earned the showdown with a Louisburg program that’s been one of the best in 4-1A in recent years. Senior Vladimir Sandoval opened Thursday’s game with a first-half goal – his team-high 18^th of the season – before Louisburg controlled the second half and got an equalizer from Cade Gassman with 19 minutes left in the game.
 
After two scoreless overtime periods, Santos ended things with 27 seconds left in the third OT.
 
“That was a fun match,” Subasic said. “First time hosting a regional championship at our place since maybe 2003. … Having the home crowd was really nice and brought a strong intensity to the game from the stands. On the field, it was work. Our guys were working their tails off from start to finish. Everybody was locked in working for every ball. The intensity level of the game was crazy.”
 
Baldwin has an identical record as Ward in Tuesday’s quarterfinal. The Bulldogs tied Louisburg 1-1 in the regular season and Subasic sees plenty of similarities between the Frontier League rivals.
 
“We watch whatever film we can get and a lot of our guys were mentioning that they look and play similar to how Louisburg plays,” Subasic said. “I said, ‘Exactly. This is not an unreachable goal for us to move past this round and into the state semis. This is something you guys can do.’ But we’ve got to show it on the field Tuesday.”
  
 
OTHER SOCCER REGIONAL FINALS
 

• A fixture in the state quarterfinals for the last two decades, Washburn Rural might have looked somewhat vulnerable in returning there this season after drawing Wichita Northwest in its regional final. The two met in early September this season with the Junior Blues pulling out a 4-3 win in overtime with a late goal.

But in Thursday’s rematch, Rural left nothing to chance. Liam Morrison and Devon Rutschmann scored in the first half for a 2-0 Junior Blues’ halftime lead and Rural built a 4-0 edge on a pair of Easton Bradstreet goals early in the second half en route to a 5-1 victory. Bradstreet’s goals give him 29 on the season, one shy of Rural’s single-season record, and 57 for his career, tying Austin Halsey’s career record.
Rural (15-3-0) will play host to Derby (14-4-0) in Tuesday’s quarterfinal showdown. The two met in last year’s quarterfinals as well with the Junior Blues taking a 6-1 win.

• Kansas City Christian returned to the Class 4-1A state quarterfinals for the second straight season with a 4-0 win over Maur Hill. Isaiah Morris scored two of the goals while Justin Trott and Vanya Kalynovskyi each had one. The Panthers (14-4-0) will face Bishop Miege (12-5-1) in the quarterfinals with the Stags the six-time reigning 4-1A state champions, beating KC Christian 8-0 in last year’s quarterfinals.
• Shawnee Heights, De Soto and Basehor-Linwood all saw their seasons come to an end against Eastern Kansas League foes in the Class 5A regional finals. De Soto fell 5-0 to Blue Valley Southwest, Basehor lost 4-1 to St. Thomas Aquinas and Shawnee Heights lost 3-0 to St. James Academy.