Falcons overcome big odds

The odds were long for the Van Horn soccer team.
And they got even longer for the Falcons in Monday’s Class 1 District 8 semifinal at St. Joseph LeBlond High School.
First of all, they were facing Barstow, the 10th-ranked Class 1 team in the state. Secondly, the Falcons finished the match with just 10 players because of a red card issued to one of their players, and head coach Chris Corrie was relegated to the stands to watch after being issued a red card that was later overturned to a yellow.
And, finally, Alex Mondragon, one of Van Horn’s best players, re-aggravated a knee injury that put him out for the rest of the year.
But, somehow, the Falcons overcame all that. Yacine Hamchaoui buried the game-winner from about 12 yards out with about two minutes left as they stunned Barstow 2-1 to advance to Wednesday’s championship.
“This was a fantastic win for us,” Corrie said after his Falcons (16-10-1) advanced to Wednesday’s 6 p.m. final against the top-seeded St. Pius X Warriors. “Everyone on this team played their best game of the season tonight. What a great win.”
 With Corrie in the stands in the 78th minute, Oscar Ayala put a corner kick in front of the goal. Hamchaoui came out of the scrum in front of the net and buried a shot past the Barstow goalkeeper.
“I was sitting up in the stands, and I was mad and frustrated,” Corrie said after seven yellow cards were called on the Falcons while none were called on Barstow. “But our players decided they weren’t going to quit or blame it on the officials, and they stepped it up and took it to a whole other level.”
Hamchaoui gave the Falcons a 1-0 lead in the 31st minute. Ricardo Sanchez looped the ball over the top of the defense and Hamchaoui ran on to the ball and hammered in a 45-degree shot from the left side of the goal.
Barstow, though, tied it in the 47th minute.
“I have the toughest players,” Corrie said. “And they decided to play their best game. Now we’ve got the sixth-ranked team in the state (in St. Pius), so we’ve got another challenge.”
CLASS 3 DISTRICT 15: William Chrisman was unable to overcome a strong start by Kansas City Northeast and saw its season come to a close with a 2-0 loss in the first round of the Class 3 District 15 Tournament.
“We had some problems at the beginning of the game; we had trouble adjusting to their speed,” Chrisman coach John Straub said after his team finished 2-18. “And we had trouble playing catch-up the rest of the game. It was a poor start and we never recovered from it.”
Juan Aguilar scored in the first minute and Hassan Hussein scored in the 27th minute for the only goals Northeast needed. Northeast advanced to meet Liberty in the semifinals. Fort Osage meets Winnetonka in the other semifinal.