CHANUTE, Kan. – After 110 minutes of Region VI playoff action the Neosho Panthers and Cloud County Thunderbirds were knotted in a 2-2 tie. That meant the game would be decided by penalty kicks, the exact scenario that head coach Steven Harrison prepared for Saturday afternoon in practice. Five rounds of penalty kicks still weren't enough but when Cloud County's Ngozi Gregory's attempt at the start of sudden death sailed high Aaron Crane seized the opportunity and scored the game winner to give the Panthers a 5-4 penalty shootout win and a trip to Topeka for the Plains District Championship.
                              
On a cold windy night the Panthers opened the game heading into the stiff wind. Neosho leading scorer Nelson Landaverde gave the Panthers an early 1-0 lead off Tim Williamson's pass in the 19^th minute. That would be all the scoring in the first half and the Panthers took a 1-0 lead into the break.
 
The score would remain 1-0 until the 68^th minute when the Thunderbirds drew a foul in the box to earn a penalty kick. Cloud County's Marquis Pitt beat Neosho keeper Ryan Davis to tie the game at 1.
 
It was Landaverde that came to the rescue again just two minutes later. After a Cloud County foul, Landaverde scored his 15^th goal of the season on a free kick from more than 25 yards away and Neosho was back on top 2-1.
 
With Neosho clinging to the 2-1 lead, it was an outstanding play by Cloud's Kadell Thomas that set up the game tying goal in the 85^th minute. Kadell fought his way into the box and found Pitt in front of the net to score the equalizer.
 
The Panthers had one last shot to win it in regulation when they drew a foul with less than a minute to play. Nelson Landaverde's free kick from more than 40 yards away sailed just wide of the goal in the final seconds to force overtime.
 
Over the next two overtime periods both defenses stiffened up and made good looks at the goal tough to come by. Twenty minutes of overtime came and went and the score remained knotted at 2 setting up the thrilling round of penalty kicks.
 
Cloud would be the first to go when the penalty kicks began. The Thunderbirds leading scorer Ojai Bedward and Panthers leading scorer Nelson Landaverde traded goals. The second round saw Cloud score but David Fuentes attempt came up just shy of crossing the line to keep the score tied.
 
Trailing 4-3, Ryan Davis earned the save on Clouds third attempt to give the Panthers a chance to tie it back up. Aaron Strunk's attempt did just that and after three rounds the two teams were still tied. Over the next two rounds Alejandro Dominguez and Sam Gavin each responded with goals to keep the score tied and forcing sudden death.
 
Cloud County's Ngozi Gregory was the first to go in sudden death and his shot sailed high leaving the door open for the Panthers. Aaron Crane calmly stepped up and nailed the game winner to secure the Panthers first trip to Topeka since 2007 with a 7-6 win.
 
The win extends the Panthers unbeaten streak to 11 straight and improves them to 14-3-1 on the season. Neosho advances to the Plains District Championship where they will face Region V champion Hill College (10-5-1) with a berth to the NJCAA Division I Men's Soccer Championship on the line. The match will kick off at 11:00am Thursday (Nov. 6) from Hummer Park in Topeka.