TAWAS AREA - May 11, 2005 - In high school soccer there are often sudden-death overtime "golden goals" and, in the playoffs, the heart-pounding tension of tiebreaking shootouts. But rarely do games end the way the John Glenn-Tawas Area showdown finished Wednesday.

The Braves' Rachel Ericson blasted a 25-yard shot into the upper corner of the Bobcats' net as the final second ticked off the clock, giving Tawas a 2-1 victory over the Bobcats. The loss dropped Glenn (10-2 overall, 7-1 NEMC) into a first-place tie with Ogemaw Heights (8-2-1, 7-1), whom the Bobcats play on Friday on the Falcons' home field. Tawas improved to 8-5, 7-2.

The buzzer-beater so rare that even the lead official, a veteran of more than 1,500 games, had never seen a game end quite that way.

"I've seen it happen before, but not in a game I've coached," said Tawas coach Ken Cook. "Do I want to see a game end that way? No. "

Neither did Glenn coach Fran MacMillan, whose squad managed to handle the stunning defeat with class. The ball was in the air when the scoreboard clock buzzer sounded, but the official time is kept by the onfield official, whose watch registered several seconds remaining when the ball entered the net.

MacMillan briefly met with the officials at midfield to question the call, but quickly gathered his troops despite not getting the answers he wanted.

"We've had some injuries, but the girls played hard," MacMillan said. "They had a few more fresh legs, which was probably the difference. They were in our face a little more than we're used to, but it's good in that we'll be ready for that kind of game at Ogemaw.

"If every game was like this one, we'd have had more than 500 people on the sideline to watch, I guarantee you. Of course, if it had been 2-1 in our favor, it would have been nicer."

The Braves had ample opportunities to score in the first half, but despite coming close never could find the net. Three times the Braves were unable to put away loose balls in front of the Bobcats' goal. Glenn's Kaitlyn Noble hit the crossbar with a long shot that Tawas goalkeeper Ashley Krumm tipped midway through the first half, and the Braves' Kadra Stec hammered a 30-yarder off the Glenn crossbar with 30 seconds left in the half.

An intense second half of up-and-down the field action seemed to reach its culmination with 14:40 as Kristen Kemmer knocked a high, long, arcing shot over Krumm for a 1-0 lead.

But Tawas quickly recovered, and less than five minutes later Kadra Stec worked the ball into the middle of the Glenn box and hammered home an unassisted goal to tie the score.

"I really felt we dominated the first half," Cook said. "We just couldn't score. The second half was more of back and forth. But I really felt we earned it.

"Now we have to wait until Friday to see what happens at Ogemaw. You hate to depend on another team to help you, but that's the situation we're in."

For the Bobcats, the silver lining is that they still control their own fate. If they defeat Ogemaw Heights (7-1), John Glenn has the NEMC lead to itself. If Ogemaw (7-1 NEMC) beats Glenn on Friday, the Braves can force a three-way tie for first place on Wednesday, May 18 if they can defeat those same Falcons.

"That's what I just told the girls," MacMillan said. "We just have to take care of things at Ogemaw on Friday."