COLLINSVILLE - Rodrigo Hernandez-Mendoza scored off a scramble in front of the Edwardsville net 19.9 seconds from full time to give Collinsville a stunning 1-0 win over the Tigers in the IHSA boys soccer Class 3A regional final Saturday afternoon a Kahok Stadium.
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The goal came 31 seconds after Edwardsville was reduced to 10 men after Will Nativi was sent off for a studs-up tackle on a Kahok player, on a straight red card.
The game turned out to be the final game of Tigers' head coach Mark Heiderscheid, who announced his retirement after 26 seasons at the helm. In his postgame interview, Heiderscheid focused on his players and felt deep sympathy for them.
"Oh, absolutely," Heiderscheid said. "Because for them, you've got a lot of kids that there's only a short window where you've got to play a high school sport. Most times, as a ninth grader, you're playing ninth grade, because if it's on the boys' end, and it's a physical sport, it's going to be awfully hard to match up as a ninth grader to a senior. And even at that, sometimes, as sophomores, it gets tough as well. Oftentimes, physically, it's going to be a rough go. So, therefore, you're looking at two - it could be a third - a couple of years, and that's the only opportunity you get to make that. And for knowing that, you always wish the best, but it's a contest between two schools, and for one, there's a happy group of kids, and for the other ones, it's not going to be happy."
Even when asked if it's a sad occasion about his final game, Heiderscheid focused on the kids, and their feelings.
"Well, it is," Heiderscheid said. "But like I said earlier, for the last conversation with a reporter, at this moment, I can't think that way. At this moment, it has to be 100 percent, and solely about the fact that for the kids, it ends their season. And so, the focus really has to be about the idea that it's a kids' game, and I'm there to help facilitate a game that is about high school kids.
"So, therefore, the wins, the joys, and now, the pain of losing, the focus has to be on, and it is about them. I know it ends my career, knowing I'll never be back. But, I think there's time for me to reflect later, but for now, the whole thing is about showing empathy for players and that. And so, the focus is only going to be about them."
The first few minutes of the match was concentrated mainly in the midfield area, with both sides having good opportunities that were turned away. Tempers were frayed slightly, and in the 20th minute, the Kahoks' Enrique Caranza was booked for a hard foul. Ten minutes later, Caranza had a free kick chance that was missed to keep the game scoreless. The Kahoks also had a pair of late chances go by the wayside as the two teams went to the interval 0-0.
Early in the second half, the Tigers began to take control of the play, creating good opportunities that were turned away by Collinsville goalie Braden Henson. The final 20 minutes saw good chances on both sides that were stopped by the defenses, as both sides looked for a winner.
In the final minute, the Tigers went down a man after Nativi was sent off for his studs-up tackle that his a Kahok player in the chest. It created a free kick just outside the center circle in the Collinsville half, where Henson fired a shot on goal that Kennedy bounced off the bar and went out for a corner. The Kahoks took it, and in the wild scramble in front of goal, Hernandez-Mendoza headed it in 19.9 seconds from the death to give the Kahoks the 1-0 lead. It stayed that way for the dying seconds, as Collinsville held on and advanced to the sectional.
Edwardsville's season ends at 10-8-2.
Dan Brannan also contributed to this story.
