Waite is Wildcats' saving grace

Nick Waite was as cool as crisp fall night air Tuesday at Blue Springs South High School.
The Blue Springs goalkeeper made a stop against Raytown on the first kick of a penalty-kick shootout and made a lunging kick save on the last shot of the best-of-five shootout to give the Wildcats a 4-3 edge in penalty kicks and a 1-0 win over the Blue Jays in the Class 3 District 14 semifinals at Larry Stewart Memorial Stadium.
“It’s a good feeling to finish it,” Waite said after being mobbed by his Wildcats teammates and head coach Michael Palermo. “Going through it I think it’s more rough for (the penalty kickers) out there. I sit there. They have all the pressure on them. All I have to do is make one save.”
Waite stopped Raytown’s Rodney Mays with a sliding kick save to his right to open the shootout. He then followed that with a left-footed kick save of Mbulunji Mhango’s shot. The teams played 80 minutes of scoreless soccer in regulation and two 15-minute sudden death overtime periods before Waite’s magic hand and foot work.
“You watch their foot,” Waite said of the saves. “You just watch ‘em. Their body language shows it.”
The Wildcats (15-9) were ahead 4-3 in the shootout period when Waite dashed the final hope for Raytown (17-6-1). His approach to handling the pressure of facing a game-ending kick could only be described in the junior keeper’s own words: “I don’t think about the game because if you think about the game, you’re just putting more weight on your shoulders. You sit over there and you just wait.
“Think about something else. Your girlfriend, school. You think about the fans sometimes. You think about your family just to get it off your mind.”
Palermo said he was just happy Waite reacted with his instincts instead of thinking too much about the penalty kick shootout.
“What can you say about Nick, you know?” Palermo said. “He makes two brilliant saves at the end, these guys made four shots and that was enough to get us the victory.”
Work on penalty kicks in practice paid off for the Wildcats, Palermo said.
“Nick is tough to score on in practice,” Palermo said. “He always seems to – he gets mad if I say he guesses right, so he picks right. He always knows what side to pick. We felt comfortable that he could make one or two saves and we could make three of four kicks and we did.”
Wildcats senior forward Keaton McCoy had a message for his teammates as they prepared for the penalty kicks. McCoy screamed at his teammates, “We’re not done, boys! Let’s go! Focus! We’re not going down on PKs.”
“I couldn’t even imagine losing this game,” McCoy said following the win. “This is my senior year. I wasn’t ready for it to end. I just had a feeling it wasn’t going to end tonight. Nick’s save – when he dove and it didn’t go in – all thought just went out the door. Everyone was just excited. I was speechless.”
The second-seed Wildcats play top-seeded Lee’s Summit North Thursday at 6 p.m. for the district championship. The Broncos own a pair of 2-1 victories over the Wildcats this season in Suburban Big Seven conference play.
“The first game they played really well,” McCoy said. “The second game they came out on top but we didn’t play our best game. I don’t think they are going to get us a third time. It’s hard to get a team three times in one season.”
LEE’S SUMMIT NORTH 3, BLUE SPRINGS 1: In the other District 14 semifinal, Lee’s Summit North ended Blue Springs South’s season.
Lee’s Summit North’s Mike Panarisi scored goals in the 15th and 36th minute and teammate Luiz Souto-Major scored in the 64th minute.
The Jaguars’ only goal was scored by Micah Leech in the 31st minute.
“They scored first and our kids reacted well to it,” Jaguars head coach Jon Grice said after his team finished 10-10-1. “We tied it up. They ended up getting one goal late in the half and that was tough to overcome going into halftime down a goal.
“But the kids came out the second half and did a great job and did what we asked them do to. I’m proud of the kids and I’m proud of the year they had together.”
North improved to 13-6-1 entering Thursday’s championship.