There was a definite sense something was brewing.
The Jefferson City Jays and the Chaminade Red Devils were tied at 1 at the half Friday afternoon in the first game of the Art Firley Shootout at the 179 Soccer Park.
But the Red Devils were pressuring the defense of the Jays in the opening 10 minutes of the second half.
"You could feel it coming," Jays coach Eddie Horn said.
And it did. On a restart, Ryan Fagan of the Red Devils knocked a shot that trickled into the net as Chaminade went on to a 2-1 victory against the Jays.
"There were three of their guys standing there and it was 2-1," Horn said.
The Red Devils, ranked No. 1 in the state in Class 3, dominated play early in the game. But they couldn't dent the scoreboard.
"We couldn't get the ball, all we could do was kick it out," Horn said.
After the early stretch, the Jays settled down and got into a bit of a rhythm. That paid off about 15 minutes into the game when Marcus Woodruff scored on Jefferson City's first shot of the contest.
On the play, Aaron Crane drove down the sideline and found Logan Horn near the Chaminade net. Horn then hit Woodruff with a pass.
"That was a nice combination and Marcus buried it," Horn said. "It was a great goal."
That gave the Jays a bit of an energy boost. About 10 minutes later, Crane found himself open from about 15 yards out and rattled a shot off the near post.
"That could have been huge," Horn said. "To go up 2-0, it would have been a different game."
The Red Devils tied it with four minutes to go before halftime when Fagan scored while evading the Jays defense on the back post.
"It was a miscommunication on our part," Horn said.
After Fagan scored to give the Red Devils the lead, the Jays battled to get the equalizer.
"We had moments where we played really well," Horn said. "We were doing a lot of things that we needed to do to get back into the game.
"We made it interesting and I'm sure they had more on their minds than what time the Cardinal game started."
Chaminade finished with a 20-7 edge in total shots, including a 12-4 advantage in those on goal.
Jefferson City (16-4) will play Kickapoo at 1 p.m. today in the Shootout.
"We need to come out and get a win," Horn said. "It's not going to be easy, Kickapoo is a very good team. But we haven't lost two games in a row this season and we don't want to lose two in a row."