The Petawawa U-18 boys hit the pitch against valley rivals Arnprior United Wednesday night in a close game that spilled into overtime.

Under dark skies that threatened rain, the Valley United Soccer League teams lined up on the Petawawa Civic Centre pitch to earn the right to move on to a quarter-final game in Renfrew.

Minutes into the match Arnprior United took the lead when they scored on goalie David Crabtree. Throughout the half, Petawawa worked the ball up and down the field taking shots at their opponent's net.

With mere minutes left in the half, Petawawa was awarded a penalty kick. As his team stood behind him, Mathieu Gagnon took the shot 12 metres in front of the Arnprior's net. Although Arnprior's goalie dived to the left side of the net to stop the ball he couldn't save it from sailing past him. Gagnon's goal tied the match up 1-1.

Minutes into the second half the skies released their fury and in a torrential downpour the teams remained on the pitch working to gain the lead in the tied game.

Trying to maintain control of the ball, while staying up on their feet, the players maneuvered the ball up the drenched field taking shots on their opponent's net.

Early into second half, in a picture perfect goal, a United player shot the ball past the 18-yard line where the ball sailed between the top of the net and the goalie, Adam Dyer's hands.

With a one point lead, Arnprior staved off Petawawa's attempts to tie the game through the rest of the half, as Petawawa continually moved the ball up the field attempting to connect it to the back Arnprior's net. But, with literally seconds left in the game, Marcus Durnford crossed the ball to the front of the net where Braden Neville shot the ball past Arnprior's goalie leaving the teams to battle it out in overtime.

After a brief break, the teams lined the pitched as the downpour ensued. With 20 minutes of play, two 10 minutes halves , Petawawa gained its composure and working together, the boys scored the team’s third goal of the game when Isaac Anderson shot the ball, connecting it to the back of the net.

After a huge cheer from team mates, the boys went back to work and in the second half of overtime Brayden Neville scored the fourth goal of the game securing the win 4-2 for Petawawa.

Currently Petawawa is in third place behind first place team Renfrew and second place team Opeongo. On Sunday Petawawa plays Renfrew in a quarter-final match at Mateway Lindsay pitch in Renfrew. The winner will move on to the finals vying for the top spot in the league.

Cyndi Mills is a Daily Observer multimedia journalist

cyndi.mills@sunmedia.ca