"Coach had us work specifically on throw-goals and we got two goals off those," Cox said. "So, Coach knows what he's doing, that's all there is to it. After that first goal we were just pumped. I was going crazy."
But just over three minutes later, at the 35-minute mark, Dunbar would answer when Andrew Locke scored off a rebound. Two minutes after that, Luis Delgado forced keeper Heath Crist out of the net and pushed a long shot from the wing that rolled in.
"Luis is a great player and when he scores that kind of goal from that kind of angle, as a coach you hope that ball is cleared, but for him to finish that, hats off to him," West Coach Nate Andrews said. "More credit to my guys for knowing its not finished. I never really thought it was done. I thought we'd find a way to come back and we did."
Nearly 30 minutes later, with just over 3 minutes remaining in regulation, Ryan Moberly found the back off the net, again from a Troyer assist.
"All that momentum came to us," Andrews said. "It was a definite switch and it was what we needed. If we start well like we need to and we finish like we need to, I'll give any team the middle."
With 4:19 remaining in the first overtime, the Colts scored off an own goal while pressuring in the box.
Even with the goal advantage, the Colts didn't think they would coast through the second overtime.
"I was scared," Cox said. "I was really scared because they have a fast offense. They had a good chance. I didn't' think it was in the bag, definitely not. But we just packed it in and did what we had to do."
In the waning minutes and their season on the line, the Bulldogs spurred the offensive attack. The Colts refused to break.
Crist managed to keep Dunbar out of the net. The Bulldogs made one last desperate attack with a good look, but Crist came out to collect the ball and held it aloft as time expired, marking the Colts' victory.
"Heath was playing with a lot of confidence tonight," Andrews said. "Once I saw that ball squirt a little, I knew he could come out to get it. I knew we had it. This huge weight just kinda comes off. You've got a senior with the ball in his hands to finish it off."
"I looked at the clock just a little while ago and thought, 'We just have to hold on to this,'" Crist said. "I was just hoping I could punt it down the field and get control so we could hold it there in the middle."
The game presented a certain amount of symbolism for Crist who played well in the regular season meeting with Dunbar that ended with a 1-1 tie. Crist was shown a red card with just seconds remaining in that game.
"I told him, 'You just need to play the same way.' That was his coming out game. So for him to come in again and do the same thing to the same team is a credit to him for keeping his head. He wanted it bad. He hated coming out of that game, even it was just the last few seconds. He wanted to stick it to them."
Despite the emotions, Crist kept his head and tried not to lose focus even as the Colts trailed for most of the second half.
"The thing about goalie is you really have to keep focus on the game," he said. "It's easy back there to just get out of the game because you're standing around a lot. But you just have to keep your focus and know that not matter what, you're the last line of defense. You have to be ready for whatever comes."
Coming into the game the Bulldogs had won six of their last seven games and were undefeated in that stretch. They also hadn't allowed a goal in that stretch. So the Colts knew they were going to have to put one in the net early.
"That's what we've talked about, as games go on and we outplay teams and we couldn't finish, we came to the determination that we had to put something in early and be the first to do it," Andrews said. And when that happens it just gives us the momentum and confidence we need. We always knew we could play with Dunbar. They were a great team on a great run coming into this, so we knew it was going to be a battle. But we knew we could play with them. That first goal just helped solidify that and put us in a position where we needed to be in the end."
The Colts face Lexington Catholic Thursday night for the district championship. Catholic also had to play into overtime to dispense with Lexington Christian Academy, 2-1.
