It took a second straight overtime victory to keep District 5-AAA champion Walker Valley's season going in Monday's Region 3 semifinal, at "The Corral."
After a 2-2 knot with Cleveland in the District 5 title match last Friday, the Mustangs won the match on the 21st penalty kick shootout.
Monday, it looked like another shootout was on the horizon, but with 57 seconds left in the second overtime, Walker Valley found the nylon for a 2-1 win over District 6 runner-up East Hamilton.
The Mustangs (12-8) advance to the region championship match Wednesday against District 6 champ Howard (12-2-1), in Chattanooga.
The Hustlin' Tigers, ranked 20th in the latest Maxpreps poll, nipped Cleveland 1-0 on a goal by senior Bayro Vasquez-Lopez, to advance to the title match. Howard nipped the Herd 1-0 on its own turf during the regular season as well.
Both Walker Valley and Howard also earn a spot in the TSAAA Sectional playoff Saturday, where they will battle the survivors of 13th-ranked LaVergne (12-2-1) and District 8 champ Blackman (8-6-1), plus Rockvale (11-4-1) and District 7 winner Lebanon (9-9).
Coach Ethan Taylor's Mustangs scored first in Monday's victory in the 22nd minute when senior Graham Delmotte received a pass from classmate Christian Fanz and pushed the ball past the Hurricane goalkeeper.
After the Herd held a 1-0 edge at the intermission, East Hamilton (5-8) was able to knot the score when a penalty kick halfway through the second half.
Going to extra play, neither team could find the net in the opened overtime and appeared it was going to be the same until the last minute of the second OT.
Coming off a corner kick by junior Alex Lakatosh, senior Grey Davies was able to head it in for the victory.
