“Every minute was torture,” Safford said.

With just over five minutes remaining, the pressure lifted when sophomore forward Deny DeLeon lined up a rebound and put it past Faivor. The rebound came off a shot by Jose Librado, which hit the far post.

“We had switched to a 3-5-2 in the final eight minutes because we were still behind,” Spolyar said. “If we’d been in our normal 4-4-2, they probably wouldn’t have gotten that. It was a backbreaker.”

Gray had two saves in goal for the Indians and Faivor had five in goal for the Scots.

“This was a tough battle for both teams,” Kempson said. “It was just a matter of who could finish their opportunities. We’re beat up right now, and I’m proud of them that they could bounce back after that loss last Saturday for the North Central Conference championship.”

Highland has eight seniors on its sectional roster but was playing a lot of underclassmen through much of the match.

“We knew this would be a tough game,” Spolyar said. “They beat us 3-1 during the regular season. They just had our number this year.”