CREVE COEUR: Whitfield sophomore James Kelly had a glorious opportunity to score the game-winning goal during the first overtime Thursday, but his booming shot settled harmlessly in the grasp of the goalkeeper.
Maybe it was birthday luck, but Kelly found himself in that exact situation during the second overtime, racing ahead of the defense with the game on his foot.
“The first time I hit it high and (the goalie) was there, so I tried to go low and hard,” Kelly said. “It turned out to be a pretty good birthday present.”
Kelly, who celebrated his 16th birthday Thursday, scored the game-winning goal in the 103rd minute to lift Whitfield to a 2-1 victory over Metro in the Class 1 District 2 championship game.
Whitfield (10-12), which played in the Class 3 tournament the previous four seasons, advanced to face the winner of Maplewood-Richmond Heights (19-2) and Saxony Lutheran (10-8) in a Class 1 quarterfinal Saturday, Nov. 14 at Whitfield at a time to be determined.
Kelly was not the only Whitfield player to narrowly miss a game-winner. Senior Noah Mohmoud, who chimed the crossbar late in regulation, clanged a shot off the left post during the first overtime. Moments before the game-winner occurred, Mohmoud relayed a message to sophomore midfielder Sam Hoette.
“He said, ‘All I need is one ball sent up to me,’ so I thought, ‘Alright, I’m just going to try my best to put it over the top and let someone run onto it,” Hoette said.
On the game-winner, Hoette poked the ball past a defender in the midfield and lofted a perfect, left-footed pass down the right side that sparked a race between Kelly and a Metro defender. Kelly won the race, remembered his shot that was saved 15 minutes earlier, and sent a low blazer into the corner of the net to send the Warriors to the Class 1 quarterfinal.
Metro (12-3-1) dominated play for most of the first half before Kelly and Hoette combined to break a scoreless tie early in the second half.
Metro entered the district championship game on an eight-game winning streak, having outscored opponents 35-2. The Panthers earned seven corner kicks in the first 25 minutes Thursday and narrowly missed scoring on several of them.
“That’s been a repetitive thing we’ve been working on throughout the season, being asleep for part of a half,” Hoette said. “We were thankful to get through it without giving up a goal.”
Whitfield began producing offensive chances and gaining momentum late in the first half before mounting a furious charge to begin the second half. The Warriors were rewarded when Kelly dribbled into the box and was tripped up, resulting in the awarding of a penalty kick at the 65-minute mark.
Hoette stepped to the spot and delivered a low blast ticketed for a corner, but Metro goalkeeper Konrad Cumminskey dove to his left and made a brilliant save. The ball squirted from his grasp and settled in the mud-splattered crease, where an upright Hoette alertly followed it up, beat the scrambling Cummiskey to the ball and knocked in into the net to produce the first goal.
“If it hits the post, you can’t touch it, but if hits the goalie, go get it,” Hoette said. “I don’t know if the mud had an impact, but it had to be slippery for the goalie, especially in the second half.”
After scoring, Hoette and his teammates raced towards the bleachers, where the entire school population of Whitfield stood on their feet during the entirety of regulation time and through both overtimes.
“I wanted to hype those fans up,” Hoette said.
But Metro (10-12), which had won three consecutive district titles and placed third in Class 1 last season, shook off the game-altering moment and stayed with its game plan.
“We knew how to attack, we knew where our advantages were, we knew what patterns to play, and we did it consistently enough where we created chances,” Metro coach Rodney Malone said.
Metro earned three free kicks from just outside the penalty area, with each delivery by senior captain Hamza Kugic producing a more dangerous scoring opportunity. With less than six minutes remaining, junior Elai Hefer sent a perfectly-paced, through ball to senior Henry Schrock, who drilled a laser into the back of the net to knot the score at 1.
Metro had its own glorious opportunity to score during the first overtime when a cross from Schrock skidded across the muddied goal crease, eluded Whitfield goalkeeper Austin Walker and settled on the foot of Hefer, but his shot towards a vacant cage was blocked by a sliding Myles Aaron, who seemingly came out of nowhere to save the game for Whitfield.
Midway through the second overtime, Hoette sent Kelly a gift-wrapped birthday present that blew out the candles on an outstanding district championship game.
For Metro, the heartbreaking, district championship loss does not deter from the strides the Panthers have made to become one of the top Class 1 teams year after year.
“We’ve established a pattern, a routine and a culture that the school has really bought into, and now success breeds success. It didn’t work out the way we wanted today, but last year it did. Next year, who knows,” Malone said.
In many ways, Whitfield’s victory Thursday mirrored their season. The rough start to the game was similar to the Warriors’ 0-4 start that included being mercy-ruled in their opener. The Warriors began clicking midway through the season, had another 4-game hiccup late, but recovered just in time to keep their season alive.
“This team became such a tight group that losses just became building moments,” Kelly said. “We learned from them, and after one or two practices, came right back and played better the next game.”
Hoette added, “We had no clue how to play with each other at first, but we found our groove, and we have a lot of confidence moving forward.”
For a photo gallery from this game, click on the link below.
https://benvessa.smugmug.com/Boys-Soccer/Boys-Soccer-2026/Metro-vs-Whitfield-C1D2-championship