WESTPHALIA - The Southern Boone boys soccer team scored a goal early and one late Tuesday night.
In between, the Eagles spent a lot of time making coach Chris Miller a bundle of nerves.
But the end result was just fine for Miller, as Southern Boone earned a spot in the Class 2 quarterfinals by beating the Fatima Comets 2-0 in a sectional contest at Knights of Columbus Field.
"We had one of those games earlier with Fulton (getting the better of play) and we lost 1-0," Miller said. "It was the same type of game where we had chances and their keeper played great and their backs played great and we couldn't solve it."
The statistics seemed to indicate an easy win for Southern Boone. At the end of the night, the Eagles had a 22-2 edge in shots, including 14-1 in shots on goal, and had a 13-1 advantage in corner kicks. And the time of possession was squarely on their side, as they controlled the ball from the start.
"We had to work for our goals tonight, for sure," Miller said. "You've got to credit Fatima for that. They had a game plan, putting (forward Evan) Schulte in the back and clogging things up. (Goalkeeper Justin) Bax is outstanding, anyway, he's tough to score on as it is."
Fatima coach Kirby Keth said his team did a nice job running a different formation.
"I had two freshmen boys running up front tonight," he said. "I had to pull one of my strongest players into the back to play against them, but that was the strategy and (Schulte) bought into it and did a great job. You have to control the middle against these guys if you're going to stay in the game."
The Eagles got their first goal less than six minutes into the game when Zach Culley sent a nice crossing pass into the box, where scoring machine Jacob Moore headed it home for his 30th goal of the season.
"That started with him winning a ball and distributing and then getting it back on the other end," Miller said. "That was a really nice goal for us. I thought it might relax things for us, but it didn't really happen."
Things took a turn for the worse for Fatima seven minutes later when midfielders Drew Angerer and Jordan Herzing collided near the center stripe. Herzing got up after a few minutes, but Angerer eventually had to leave the field on a stretcher with a knee injury.
"Drew is a leader up front and he attacks - he's a senior who is smart and knows the game as well as anybody," Keth said. "So we had to replace him with a freshman athlete, and that was tough. We don't know how it would have panned out with him, but I was really pleased with those kids that came in and gave us time."
Despite having the better of play the rest of the half, Southern Boone was clinging to that 1-0 lead at halftime. The Eagles went into intermission with leads in shots (8-0), shots on goal (4-0) and corner kicks (7-0).
"The field was in good shape, but with the rain, it was slick," Miller said. "You could see people slipping and the ball's skipping. It only takes a weird turn of events and the next thing you know, they could score.
"We dominated possession and shots and corners, but we didn't get anything out of it."
The Eagles kept up the pressure after the break, as they outshot the Comets 14-2 in the second half, including 10-1 in shots on goal. They got six more corner kicks to the Comets' only one of the game, which finally came with 10 seconds remaining.
Southern Boone's second goal came with 51/2 minutes remaining. Moore blasted a hard, low shot that Bax saved, but couldn't control. Ian Meentemeyer of the Eagles controlled the rebound and hammered it home.
"In games like this, this time of year, everybody's good and you've got to have somebody who can make a play," Miller said.
The score came as the Comets were trying to push forward late in the game for a tying score.
"In the second half, I really felt like we came out and created a lot more pressure," Keth said. "We had the ball forward a lot more often. We talked about it at halftime - at what point are we going to pull our striker up? We knew we had to do that and go after them and we waited until there were about 17 minutes left."
Bax, one of seven seniors for Fatima, made 12 saves in his final game for the Comets.
"He's a nice keeper, he's got that great physical profile," Keth said. "He's done a great job for us, he's been back there for the past three years. He keeps us in games, he's going to be hard to replace."
The other seniors for Fatima, which ends at 18-8, are Angerer, Schulte, Jeremy Buscher, Kaleb Bauer, Shayne Berhorst and Alex Wieberg.
Southern Boone, which improves to 25-2, will play Saturday at Springfield Catholic (20-7) in the state quarterfinals. The Eagles will be seeking their third straight trip to the Final Four after finishing third in Class 1 last year and second in Class 1 in 2012.
"This time of year, it's who can get that first goal, who can capitalize on any kind of opportunity you get," Miller said. "Opportunities dwindle from here on out, so we'll have to be a little bit more efficient."