Longtime McIntosh Chiefs soccer coach Bunky Colvin has witnessed many memorable high school soccer matches during his lifetime, but none has been more remarkable, he admitted, than his team’s 4-3 victory Friday on penalty kicks over Region 2-AAAA rival Whitewater in Fayetteville.

Eighth-ranked Whitewater (3-4, 1-1 region) came from behind twice, and it took a 3-2 lead on a header by Chandler Caudelle with 4:01 remaining in the second overtime.

But top-ranked McIntosh (5-1, 1-1 region), with under 10 seconds left in the second overtime, received a goal from Hughston Taylor to tie the match, forcing it to be decided by penalty kicks.

McIntosh went on to outscore the Wildcats 4-1 on penalty kicks to secure the victory in a rematch of last season’s Class AAAA state championship match, won by the Chiefs.

“I told the boys this: In 1997, I saw the state championship game between Griffin High School and Lassiter, and Griffin is ahead 3-1 with 20 minutes left,” Colvin said. “Lassiter went on to win 4-3. ... I said that was the greatest high school game I would ever see. I was wrong.

“This is the greatest high school game I’ve ever seen in my life.”

The loss was Whitewater’s fourth on penalty kicks this season.

“Geesh, we had been to PKs three other times this season,” said Whitewater coach Shane Pulliam, one of Colvin’s former assistant coaches at McIntosh. “We’re looking for four-leaf clovers. We’re going to do something. We’re doing everything right.

“It just isn’t falling our way. We had, I don’t know, ample opportunities to put this away, but, to their credit, they kept coming and found a way. We’ve led in all four games that have gone to PKs. We’ll just go back to work, work hard and do what we can to get ready for next week. Hopefully, things will turn around.”

Less than two minutes into the match, McIntosh struck first as Ramsey Jarun headed David Fratto’s free kick into the net.

Following a yellow card issued to McIntosh’s Allen Stein, Whitewater was awarded a free kick, taken by Kyle Adams, who booted the ball to the front of the net to Victor Murray, who fired the ball into the right corner of the net for the match-tying goal with 32:45 left in the second half.

It was sweet redemption for Adams, whose penalty kick was stopped by McIntosh goalkeeper Michael White close to three minutes earlier.

It didn’t take long for McIntosh to regain the lead.

Brian Kwan, with the ball on a corner kick, sent a pass to Jarun, who delivered the ball back to Kwan, who blasted the ball into the net for the lead two minutes later.

Adams tied the match at the 23:48-minute mark, sailing a free kick from just outside the goal box over a wall of McIntosh defenders and past White.

Following a scoreless first overtime period, Caudelle put Whitewater in front with a header and seemingly on the verge of victory with 4:01 left in the second overtime.

With the final seconds ticking off the clock and McIntosh on the brink of defeat, Taylor came through for his team, reaching White’s throw-in at the top of the box and blowing the ball past Whitewater goalkeeper Daniel Bowler, who took over for starter Vincent Easterbrook to begin the second half, to stun Whitewater’s home crowd.

Taylor was unavailable to play the entire soccer match because, literally, he was on the run. He ran in two events, a relay and the 100-yard dash, at the Georgia Tech Invitational track meet before getting in a car and heading south to join his McIntosh teammates late.

“He ran his relay and a 100[-yard] heat, jumped in the car at 7:45 at Georgia Tech, raced down here and got here about 10 minutes into the game,” Colvin said of Taylor. “It’s a huge day for Hughston Taylor. He came and tried to get in the game right away, but he wasn’t warmed up enough. He has incredible heart.”

In penalty kicks, all four McIntosh players who lined up to shoot — Stein, Fratto, Jarun and Kwan — scored; only one Whitewater player, Adams, on his team’s first kick, scored on a penalty kick.

After Adams’ penalty kick slipped into the net, White stonewalled Whitewater, making back-to-back diving saves, the first on a shot by Zach Taylor, the second on a shot by Caudelle.

McIntosh’s players and coaches rejoiced on the field following White's second save, celebrating a victory they most likely will never forget.

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