A final 12-yard penalty kick was going to determine the winner of Tuesday night's Class 4A North quarterfinal between the Hawks and Thomas Johnson and if Duddleson was going to be one of heroes or the goat.

Only minutes earlier, Duddleson had what appeared to be a slam-dunk goal taken away from him in double overtime by the timely hand of TJ's sophomore goalkeeper Nick Moxley, who delivered a miraculous save.

And now here he was with a prompt chance for retribution.

"I was extremely nervous and excited at the same time. I just had to put it in," Duddleson said.

With all eyes on him, Duddleson ran a few steps to the ball, reared back with his right leg and delivered a low bouncing shot that veered left and past a lunging Moxley into the corner of the goal.

The shot capped a thrilling 2-1 victory for the Hawks, their second overtime win of the season over TJ, and sent fourth-seeded Urbana into the 4A North semifinals against the winner of the game between top-seed Patterson and No. 8 seed Woodlawn.

"I felt the guys were prepared for (penalty kicks)," Hawks coach Scott Schartner said. "I was just looking and praying for them to do what they do in practice for us."

Duddleson was the 18th player to attempt a penalty kick, as both teams sent nine players to the line.

And it wouldn't have been possible without the work of junior goalkeeper Alex Vert, who made a diving save, watched one TJ shot miss high and to the right and another low and to the left.

On two occasions, Vert was called for coming forward off his line, an illegal

move that wiped away a save and a shot that glanced off the crossbar for TJ.

"They said I was moving forward, but I thought I was moving side to side," Vert said. "Once it got down to it, I didn't want to lose."

The teams traded goals in the second half.

TJ struck first with 35 minutes, 8 seconds left as senior midfielder Enrique Sanchez leaped high to head home a nice cross from senior striker Anthony Stafford.

"That was unbelievable," Patriots coach J.P. Smith said. "I have never seen anybody jump that high in my life. It's exciting when you put a goal in like that. I'd say it was 10 to 15 yards out. It was clutch."

That goal could have made it 2-0 for the Patriots in Smith's mind because he felt his team was robbed of the chance to take a direct penalty kick in the final minute of the first half.

Stafford appeared to be taken down from behind in the goalbox. The head referee made the call and was prepared to award TJ a penalty shot.

The ball was placed on the mark and the Patriots were prepared to take the shot when one of the side judges overruled the initial call.

Smith said he had never seen the center referee overruled in such a fashion. He lobbied his case for nearly two minutes of the halftime period to no avail.

"That was a huge momentum shifter," he said.

Urbana struck back with 6:15 left in the game, as Wally Maier knocked in a shot from close range, just outside one of the posts.

The Hawks nearly won the game in double overtime on three occasions. Aside from Duddleson's opportunity, junior striker Joey Penn released a shot that seemed to skid off the inside portion of the post and the Hawks couldn't connect on another one-timer that skidded just wide of the post.

That sent them into another penalty-kick situation in their first playoff game. Last year, they fell to Watkins Mill in PKs.

"We were in their shoes last year," Schartner said about TJ. "We know how they feel."

After missing their first two attempts, Urbana connected on seven in a row.

John Mader, Nick Breitsameter, Grant Hajjar, Vert, Josh Fahlfeder, Kelson Yearwood and Duddleson all made their attempts for Urbana .

"We had to come through for our seniors," Vert said. "We had to win it for them."

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