"Folks, we have a soccer match" declared public address announcer Steve Willis Wednesday in Nokesville. "You're getting your money's worth today."

With a half-time score of 1-1, the Region II semi-finals soccer match between Potomac Falls and host Brentsville District may not have been the highest scoring affair of the post-season.

But what wasn't to love for the Brentsville faithful? The Tiger boys tied up the game with 1:56 left in the first half when Cameron Findlay connected on a pass from Zach Willis -- Steve's son -- and knocked it in off his back.

The Tigers were finally showing some signs off life 16 minutes after Asa Fox streaked down the left side of the field, zig-zagged between Travis Rinderle, Cole Farmer and Bryce Heltzel, drew goalie Mike Madigan away from the box and put the Panthers up 1-0 with a sideways boot to Madigan's right.

And so the catfight between the Tigers and Panthers renewed in the second half.

Fox attacked again, this time reeling off a shot to high and far in the opening minutes, returning possession to the Tigers. Within minutes, Willis clocked a corner kick to teammate Cole Farmer in front of the net.

"Ahhh!" screamed the eager crowd upon impact.

Yet Farmer's headbutt sent the ball bouncing to goalie Ryan Howard's right side and just missed its target, sailing out of bounds.

"Aww," the Brentsville faithful sighed.

According to the scoreboard, referees and Tiger fans, the teams proceeded to fight to a standstill and were forced into overtime.

On the Potomac sidelines though, disbelief raged.

Two goals had been taken away from the Panthers. One came with 26:40 remaining on an offside whistle that blew one second before the ball went past Madigan.

Not too many people complained about that one. Potomac was clearly offside.

The next time Fox found the back of the net though, he had drawn Madigan away from the net and pierced in a kick with 7:10 remaining in regulation.

With the Potomac players running and cheering, the head referee seemed to be negating the goal. Why? The Potomac players demanded to know.

A sea of black shirts gathered around the yellow one of the referee as he walked up the sideline toward the Panthers' bench.

No signal. Potomac's players shouted.

Across the field the referee ran to talk things out with another one of the men in yellow.

A decision was made. The main ump approached the center of the field on the Brentsville side.

His arms spread to opposite sides.

No goal.

What had happened was when Fox darted down the field, he had been offside initially but returned to an on-sides position. However, he touched the ball before anyone else did.

A player returning from being off-sides cannot be the first to make contact with a loose ball, as Steve Willis, a soccer referee in his own right, explained in the press box.

Or, in other words, this game was headed for OT.

If Potomac had been robbed earlier by the umps, then Brentsville was similarly thwarted by the soccer gods who clearly enjoyed tinkering with the Tigers' emotions.

An offensive kick from Brentsville inside the Panthers' goal box collided with the left side of the net, bringing the Tiger fans to their feet with hoots and hollers.

One problem: the ball hit on the wrong side of the goal post. It had been out of bounds by mere inches.

Fast forward to the second minute of the second OT half: trouble for Brentsville, party time for Potomac.

Play-maker Fox broke past the Tigers defense and ripped a shot off of a diving Madigan, who extended his arms to try and reel in the ball.

But it bounced loose.

"I thought the keeper had it, but the ground's a little moist. The ball bounced off his hand and his knee," said Fox.

And there was junior striker John Thomas, ready to live up to his title.

"I just see John streaking in and just finish [it]. It's just incredible," said Fox.

"I'm greedy. I score trashy goals all the time," later added Thomas with a laugh.

The Tigers never fully recovered. Potomac Falls hung on to secure a trip to the region championship and an automatic berth to states.

As for Brentsville District, there's always next year.

"You can see how we're walking off side. They want their last game to be a win. They don't want to walk off with a loss (as their) last game," said the senior Madigan of his younger teammates.