The South Johnston boys soccer team wouldn't have agreed with that assessment on Saturday night after watching the best season in school history dissipate.

This after Greenville D.H. Conley was awarded an extra opportunity to break a sudden death shootout and delivered in a 6-5 win in the penalty kick session that followed a scoreless tie in the second round of the N. C. High School Athletic Association 3-A playoffs.

After South goalie Dalton Bledsoe's apparent game-saving stop of Enrique Ocheo in the sixth round of the shootout, Bledsoe was called for standing in front of the goal line, negating the save and giving Ocheo another kick. Shootout rules state the goalie must establish position at or behind the goal mouth when the kicker makes contact with the ball.

Ocheo's second try passed Bledsoe as the Vikings spilled onto the field to celebrate their good fortune.

"I've never professed to be an expert on the rules of soccer," proclaimed South Johnston coach Jeremy Byrd. "But I didn't think that if the goalie wasn't on the line that the whistle could be blown and you could kick the ball."

The shot Conley had at redemption added an aura of controversy that seemed ill-fated for a game that carried the appropriate intensity for a playoff contest. The match was as even as one could expect for two schools trying to advance to the third round for the first time ever. Both teams had eight shots on goal.

The game-winner came from Oceho who has just one goal on the season. Conley, the runner-up out of the Coastal Conference with an 11-8-3 record, will move on to play Big East Conference champion Wilson Hunt on Wednesday.

South Johnston and Conley each had several close calls in the overtime sessions, but couldn't tally a score.

It was the final game for a handful of Trojan seniors, including Edgar Herrera, whose goal in the shootout gave him an unprecedented 65 goals for the year, the third most overall in the state's history. Byrd said Herrera is eying several colleges with UNC-Wilmington being the favorite at season's end.

Bledsoe, Matt Blackmon, Jesse Holmes, Ivan Ponce, Ariel Ruiz and Eduardo Vasquez also finished their careers.

Conley has still yet to surrender a goal in the postseason after throttling Hertford County 10-0 in the opening round. The Vikings made good on holding Herrera scoreless, not an easy feat.

"Victor [Montes], we pulled him from up top today to mark Herrera and he did a wonderful job for us," Conley coach Shannon McLaughlin said. "We did a lot of preparation for this game. We knew we had to mark [Herrera]."

In the second shootout of the year for the Trojans, neither Bledsoe nor Conley goalie Corey Francis could get a read on the shooters with each team scoring in their first five kicks.

Matt Blackmon, Eduardo Vasquez, Cameron Wood, Will Dewey and Brean Laya all scored in the shootout for South while Takechika Kamogawa, Victor Montes, Francis Paye, David Argenbright, Javier Montes and Ocheo all connected for Conely.

"We take PKs after every single practice," McLaughlin said. "That way we're used to taking them on tired legs and it really paid off for us ."

Edgar Granados came up in the sixth spot to start the sudden death portion for South. The junior sent the ball a bit too much right and off the post to open the door for the Vikings.

"If we would have won it before that, then it wouldn't have made a difference," Byrd said. "We didn't do that. This is just where our ride comes to an end."

South Johnston ended its season with a record of 16-6-1 after winning the 3-A Eastern Carolina Conference Championship, the first soccer conference title for the school.

The loss capped the careers of South's seniors: Blackmon, Bledsoe, Herrera, Holmes, Ivan Ponce, Ariel Ruiz and Eduardo Vasquez.

The Trojans moved into the second round of the playoffs with a 5-1 decision over Wilson Fike last Wednesday.

Herrera scored four goals, bringing his season total to 65, while Will Dewey added South's other marker.

Derek Brewington picked up two assists for the Trojans in the playoff victory, and Jose Luis Lucas added another.

Byrd praised the play of his defense in the second half which helped the Trojans' make their four-goal lead at the half stand up.

The South coach praised the play of Jesse Holmes, Sam Lassiter, Matt Blackmon and Edgar Granados along the back line.