Emporia ? Free State High’s Joel Angelone had to think his goal with 1:22 remaining in Tuesday’s regional soccer game against Emporia had secured the Firebirds a victory.

“I really thought we’d won,” said Angelone, a senior forward.

So, too, did Free State coach Jason Pendleton.

But Emporia tied the game at 1 with just 33 seconds remaining in regulation. The Spartans, behind the momentum, quickly secured a 2-1 victory when Jose Garcia’s shot slid past Free State goalie Aaron Williams in the first minute of overtime.

“I got my heart back. I can’t get my hair back,” Emporia coach Steve Pearson joked after Tuesday’s exciting finish.

Unlike a couple of years ago, when the Firebirds hammered Pearson’s Spartans, Emporia controlled the tempo of Tuesday’s contest.

The Spartans outshot the Firebirds, 5-1, in the first half, and easily could have scored when Victor Ibarra launched a rising ball from five feet away.

Emporia didn’t connect, though, and a new defensive scheme by Pendleton limited the Spartans in the second half.

Although Emporia fired one more shot than Free State — the Spartans had a 4-3 second-half edge — the Firebirds took control when Angelone found the back of the net in the 78th minute. Senior Scott Schumaker struck a winding ball that EHS goalkeeper Brock Woodworth knocked down but couldn’t control, and Angelone gave Woodworth no second chance, easily tapping the ball in.

While the Firebirds put everyone back on defense, the Spartans evened things less than a minute later when Brian Berger took a pass in traffic from Brady Miller and slapped it past Williams.

Free State High's Reed Starks, right, pressures Emporia High's Victor Ibarra. The Spartans rallied to eliminate the Firebirds, 2-1 in overtime, in their first-round Class 6A regional soccer game Tuesday in Emporia.

“They were showing a sense of urgency,” Pendleton said. “Any time you get a team in a situation where their season is potentially over, they’re dangerous.

“They snatched victory from the jaws of defeat, and we snatched defeat from the jaws of victory.”

Pendleton said his Firebirds’ seventh straight setback characterized the struggles that plagued his team late in the season.

“It’s a pretty disappointing season overall,” Pendleton said of his team’s 6-9-2 finish after a 5-1-2 start. “Numerous games in there we could have had a better result, if we would have taken care of the little things.

“The overtime goal was kind of a microcosm of the season,” Pendleton said. “A clearance to the wrong side inside, then a clearing header back to inside, then a player dives in on the ball — and the player hits a great shot and wins it.

“You have to take care of the little things in soccer and life, otherwise things don’t work out the way you want them to.”