By John Breech / Staff

For a brief instant Tuesday night, it looked like the first round state soccer match between Chattahoochee and Milton might never end. After 80 minutes of regulation and two overtimes, the teams were tied at zero. Then the game headed to penalty kicks and that's when Milton goalkeeper Kevin Wangenheim took over. The senior goalie stopped two out of three Hooch PK's and Milton nailed all four of their penalty kick attempts to stave off Chattahoochee and advance to the second round of the state tournament with a 0-0 (4-1) win.

"He was amazing," Milton coach Dr. Mike Nova said after the game. "I was pretty sure he was going to be okay (during penalty kicks). You could see it in his body. He had movement in his body and when he has that movement, nobody can score on him."

After Milton's Lucas Ade and Chattahoochee's Chris Ryan traded successful penalty kicks, Wangenheim took over. The senior stopped shots by Tucker Coons and Joe Mueller and then watched as his shooters did the rest. Milton penalty kickers Matt Thomas, Nick Nova and Derek Creviston all drilled their shots to give Milton the win.

Although Wangenheim was the hero, he almost cost his team a goal in the game's first two minutes. The senior goalkeeper was called for a handball just outside the goalie box and the Cougars Ammon Lakip almost turned the free kick into a goal. Lakip's shot sailed about a foot over the goal.

Later in the first half, Lakip would almost score again. From 25 yards out, the rocket legged midfielder – who doubled as the football team's placekicker this past season – sent a laser toward Wangenheim that ended up bouncing off the top post of the goal.

Milton's best chance to score also came in the first half. In the game's 22nd minute,  Ade had an open shot on goal after Chattahoochee keeper Austin Pack fell down. However, Ade sent the shot wide right.

During regulation and OT, Pack, a sophomore starter, went stop for stop with Wangenheim. Milton had 17 shots on goal during regulation and OT combined, but Pack managed to stop each one of them.

Milton – who's making their first tournament appearance since 2006 – will travel to Dacula on Tuesday for their second round match. The Falcons, who are the No. 1 seed out of Region 8-AAAAA, defeated McEachern 4-0 in the first round.

Centennial Knocks Off Norcross

Maybe the GHSA should just start Centennial's soccer team in the second round of the state tournament. For the fifth straight year, the Knights have advanced to the tournament's second round and this time they did it by knocking off state No. 9 Norcross 3-0 Tuesday at Centennial High School.

The Knights, last years AAAAA state runner-up, took advantage of every opportunity they were given en route to scoring two first half goals. After Norcross' Taylor Krek was given a yellow card, Amin El-Shami turned the ensuing free kick into a goal for Centennial with a strong 22-yard shot that ended up in the back of the net with just over 11 minutes left in the first half.

With time waning down in the opening half, Centennial struck again. With under a minute remaining, Knight goalie Brendan Moore booted a punt over 50 yards down field. After deflecting off a Norcross player's head, Carlos McCrary found the ball and converted a shot that gave state No. 4 Centennial a 2-0 lead at the half.

Mason Herndon tacked on one more goal in the second half after receiving a nice pass from Leo Silva.

The Knights 3-0 victory was the 100th win of head coach Phil Thomas' career. Thomas, who is in his eighth season as the head soccer coach at Centennial, has averaged over 12 wins a season since taking over the program in 2003. Thomas will go for win 101 on Tuesday when Centennial hosts Brookwood at 7:30 p.m. in the second round of the state tournament.

Milton, Chattahoochee Girls Fall in First Round

Eleven days ago, Milton convincingly knocked off North Gwinnett 3-0 in the Lady Eagles regular season finale. However, lightning didn't strike twice for Milton on Wednesday in the first round of the state tournament. The Lady Bulldogs shut out Milton's highly potent offense en route to a 1-0 win.

With the loss, the Lady Eagles end their season with a 12-6 record.

Things didn't go much better for Chattahoochee on Wednesday. In a first round game at Lassiter, Hooch spotted the Lady Trojans two early goals in a 2-1 loss. With just under nine minutes left in the game, Chattahoochee's Allison Boyahan was able to punch in a goal thanks to a smart pass from Courtney Froats. After the Lady Cougar goal, the Lassiter defense tightened and held Chattahoochee scorless over the game's final eight and a half minutes. The Lady Cougars, who played one of the toughest schedules in the state this season, finished 2010 with a 9-8 record.

BT Boys and Girls Sweep First Round Matches

The Blessed Trinity boys – the top ranked AA/A team in the state – received a minor scare from Atlanta International during Thursday's first round game. The game was tied 0-0 at the half, fortunately for the Titans though, Stefan Rizzo was able to score a second half goal to give Blessed Trinity the 1-0 win.  BT goalie Max Alford played a huge part in the victory by stopping every shot he saw on the night. The Titans will host Gordon Central in the second round of the state tournament this Tuesday at 6 p.m.

On the girls side, the Lady Titans advanced to round two with a dominating 4-0 win over Lovett. Allison Gonzalez had two goals for Blessed Trinity while Amanda Penchina and Grace Damaska each chipped in one of their own. Casey O'Brien had a flawless night in the goal to get the shutout.

Johns Creek Wins, Fellowship Girls Almost Knock Off State No. 1 Walker

Fellowship Christian had a tough opening round draw with girls AA/A state No. 1 Walker. The Lady Paladins went on the road and almost pulled off the upset as they fought the Lady Wolverines to a 0-0 halftime draw. However, Walker would escape with a 1-0 win when they scored what proved to tbe game winning goal fifteen minutes into the second half. Fellowship, who was 10th in the state going into the game, finishes their season with an 11-2 record.

The Johns Creek girls team picked up the first soccer tournament win in school history with a resounding 11-1 victory over Eastside. Jewel Evans led the way for Johns Creek with four goals. Amazingly, she wasn't the only player that recorded at least a hat trick, Lady Gladiator Sophia Becker tallied three goals in the win. Hannah Hernandez also had a multi-goal game with two scores. The win sets up a showdown for Wednesday as the Lady Gladiators, No. 3 in the state, will travel to Canton to take on state No. 2 Creekview.