Chaparral emerges with marathon win

Spencer Patterson

Thursday, Nov. 2, 2000 | 9:39 a.m.

As minutes turned into hours Wednesday night at the 4A Sunrise Region Boys Soccer Tournament, icy temperatures and painful cramps began to take their toll on Omar Bywaters, with the Chaparral sweeper periodically laying on the field in obvious pain.

That pain soon turned to elation, however, as Bywaters danced along his team's sideline chanting, "Cowboys, Cowboys, Cowboys" to celebrate his club's marathon 2-1 win over rival Silverado after 80 minutes of regulation, 30 minutes of overtime and a heart-stopping shootout at the Bettye Wilson Soccer Complex.

"I was cramping up; I started to get a little tight," said Bywaters, who was also battling a pulled groin muscle and tendinitis in both ankles. "But I knew I just had to work past all that, just clear it out of my mind."

With the teams deadlocked at a goal apiece, and his team trailing 3-2 in the shootout, Bywaters calmly sank his chance to even things up once again.

Moments later, after the teams traded goals in round five, Chaparral keeper Lloyd Risiglione made the game's decisive stop in a sudden-death sixth round, punching away an attempt by Skyhawk Elliott Kleven. That opened the door for Cowboys senior Sindre Storvall, who blasted the ball over diving Silverado keeper Michael Lawrence to set off a wild orange and black celebration.

"I knew I had to be the man. I knew what I had to do," Risiglione said. "All the pressure was on me, and that's what I wanted."

Chaparral (11-3-4) -- the first team to defeat Silverado (12-1-4) this season -- advances to play defending 4A state champion Green Valley (14-3-1) in the Sunrise championship. The teams will meet up Saturday at 11 a.m. with a berth in next week's 4A State Tournament on the line.

"It's terrible that you ever have to solve a game this way, but the teams were so evenly matched," Chaparral coach Dan Schell said.

The Gators advanced with a 2-0 win over Northeast Division champion Valley (12-5-1), with Andres Chacon and Greg Allen providing goals and keeper Chris Ancell earning the shutout.

The Sunset Region final will also feature a battle of division rivals, with Southwest champion Durango (14-1-2) taking on defending Sunset champ Bishop Gorman (12-2-3) Saturday at 1:30 p.m.

The Gaels moved on with a surprisingly easy 3-0 blanking of Centennial (15-2-3), just the Bulldogs' second loss this season. Joe Zaher scored twice and assisted on another goal by younger brother Mike, and keepers Joseph Gonzales and Chris Moreo combined for the shutout.

"I really didn't think we were going to go this far, I really didn't," Gorman coach Victor Arbelaez said.

Durango got goals from four different players in a 4-1 win over host Cimarron-Memorial (10-6-2), with Trailblazers Roberto Garcia, Larry Medrano, Brian Bounds and Steve Cope all scoring.