HERSHEY - It was the culmination of an entire half worth of work.
And when Lewisburg keeper Logan Cho came crashing into Robert Ekvall's legs, the Tulpehocken forward chipped the ball over the keeper for a game-tying goal.
Once in extra time, and still reeling from Tulpehocken's late goal, Lewisburg got beat when Nick Rieck sent a free kick into the box for Ekvall. The Tulpehoken sophomore quickly headed the ball to the near post for a 2-1 overtime win. With the win Tulpehocken advances to PIAA Class AA semifinals to face the winner of Holy Ghost Prep and Pequea Valley Tuesday at a site and time to be determined.
The decisive effort by Ekvall transpired when Lewisburg was called for a foul near midfield. And, in a continuation of the aggressive play that helped score the equalizer, Tulpehoken (20-6) went directly at the Green Dragon goal.
"We talked all along before this game and said we needed to score more than one goal," Lewisburg coach Skip Kratzer said. "We've done a really good job of sitting back and protecting a one-goal lead, but at this level of play any given time there's somebody on the other side that's willing to step up and put one in."
And that someone was Ekvall, who stepped up twice when his team needed him, scoring the game-tying and game-winning goals within 10 minutes of each other.
The game's decisive goal was headed into the near post side and was as quick as it was devastating for the Green Dragons (19-3-1).
"The talk before overtime was, 'This is your game, time to go out and win it'," Kratzer said. "We can't go out and play not to lose it. Unfortunately we didn't get an opportunity to find out how that worked."
Lewisburg held a 1-0 lead through most of the second half thanks to Udoka Eze's header off a Bronson Ferster free kick. Eze celebrated the go-ahead goal by streaking down the sideline and waving to Lewisburg fans in attendance.
"We made a change at half there with Udoka, bringing him outside more and making him demand that deep sweeper slide out on him," Kratzer said. "It went well. I think that definitely helped us. Unfortunately, we gave one up there on the backend."
L-Udoka Eze (Bronson Ferster), 50:31; T-Robert Ekvall (Nick Rieck), 74:25; T-Ekvall (Rieck), 81:12.
Shots: T 16 L 11. Shots on goal: T 5 L 5. Corners: T 4 L 2. Saves: T (Derek Kissling) 4 L (Logan Cho) 3. Fouls: T 7 L 8. Cards: T none. L none.
