Free State senior Ernesto Hodison (14) is late getting in front of Lawrence High junior Ebrahim Diagne as Diagne cocks his leg back before sending the ball into the net for a goal during their soccer match Thursday evening at LHS. The game ended in a 2-2 tie.

One hundred minutes of soccer, sandwiched around a 51-minute lightning delay, wasn’t enough time to find a winner in the boys soccer City Showdown.

Lawrence High and Free State ended in a 2-2 draw Thursday at LHS, with both teams wishing they could have finished one more opportunity with the ball in the back of the net.

In the first overtime, Free State junior Toufik Ahmmed set up senior Jordan Patrick was a pass in the middle of the box, but LHS goalie Apramay Mishra made a diving stop.

Lawrence junior forward Ebrahim Diagne hit a cross into the box in the second overtime, and it nearly found the foot of junior Cain Scott.

“It’s a draw, so we’ll take it,” FSHS coach Kelly Barah said. “It’s so much better than a defeat, especially in a rivalry game. We knew it was going to be that tough.”

The Firebirds (7-4-1) had leads of 1-0 and 2-1 when senior midfielder Will Laufer drilled goals on free kicks, but both times the Lions found a way to respond.

With 16 minutes left in regulation, LHS senior midfielder Piper Hubbell received a bouncing pass from Brennan Davies and drilled a 25-yard strike into the back of the net.

“It’s just one of those things where one touch on a bouncing ball,” Hubbell said of his goal. “I just have to hit it. I didn’t really try to kill it. Just one of those split-second opportunities, and I had to take it and luckily it went in.”

Laufer, who constantly had a defender around him, gave the Firebirds a 2-1 lead in the 54th minute when he caught the Lions off-guard. The Lions (3-8-1) were trying to get their defensive wall set up, and Laufer went with a quick kick from more than 30 yards away.

“Will, he’s a great player,” Hubbell said. “Very smart and he’s technical. He saw an opportunity and he took it. He placed it nice. Props to him on that. There’s nothing we could have done about that except we have to be smarter and set up faster.”

With 30 seconds left in regulation, Laufer had another free kick from nearly the same spot, but Mishra made the stop as his LHS teammates held their breath.

“He’s a good striker of the ball,” FSHS coach Kelly Barah said of Laufer. “Every single set piece and/or every shot he takes, we always just think it’s going to go in. We started thinking he’s not even human anymore.”

Laufer scored his first goal in the 24th minute, lining up for the free kick on the left side of the 18-yard box after a foul drawn by junior Branden Patterson. He drilled it into the near post, an area where the Lions’ defense has struggled this season.

“I just smashed that near post,” Laufer said. “It was a crush. It was a shot. I don’t know what it was but it went in.”

Two minutes after the 51-minute lightning delay in the first half, Diagne scored when he hit a shot into the right side of the net from the middle of the box, assisted from Hubbell.

The Lions didn’t score a goal in their first four games this season, but are happy with how they’ve played in the past few weeks.

“I told them before the game and after the game, I’ve been very proud of how this team has improved each and every game,” LHS coach Mike Murphy said. “We’ve had now five of our last six games, where I feel like really the score didn’t reflect necessarily that was playing better. We’ve been playing really well.”