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Thursday night’s Morristown West soccer match against Sevier County was eerily similar to the Trojans match on Monday evening against Morristown East, with just one difference.

On Monday, the Trojans went up two goals to none on Morristown East only to see East fight back and send it to OT. Cole Grimaldi scored two goals in the match for West, including a game-winner in the first overtime period.

Fast forward to Thursday evening and the Trojans once again got up two goals to none only to see Sevier County tie it back up. Grimaldi scored two goals, the second coming with five minutes left in the match and appeared to be the game winner, once again.

However, it was not meant to be.

The Trojans fouled a Smoky Bears forward in the box with nine seconds left in the match. Sevier County converted the penalty to take the match to overtime. Following two scoreless periods, the match went to penalties. Sevier County saved two while converting four and stole a 4-3 victory from West.

“We scored two early, and the guys thought we could just walk all over them,” West coach Jonathan Hanna said. “We let our intensity drop, and they took advantage. Just very disappointed.”

Grimaldi was the highlight in the match for West. After assisting on the first goal, Grimaldi found the ball at his feet about 35 yards out from goal. Grimaldi noticed the keeper was out of his net and lofted a shot, burying it in the top left corner to give the Trojans a 2-0 lead.

After Sevier County tied the match at two, Grimaldi scored with five minutes left in the match to give West the lead. During PKs, Grimaldi converted his chance.

“Cole was outstanding tonight,” Hanna said. “Cole has been hurt for a lot of his career. His freshman year, he was hurt. In his sophomore year, he had a hip injury and he missed all of his junior year. Now, he’s back at it and is 100% and the talent and determination is really starting to show. I was really happy for him.”

It was a quick start for West in the match as they had a shot go wide two minutes in and then a shot find the back of the net five minutes in, only to see the offsides flag go up.

Finally, in the seventh minute, West took the lead as Grimaldi headed a ball to Jorge Mazariegos and he found the back of the net.

Two minutes later, Grimaldi had upped the lead to 2-0 with his goal from about 35 yards out.

“The intensity was there, and our basics were really good to start,” Hanna said. “After we got up 2-0 though, everything just seemed to drop. We didn’t do the basics right and wanted to show off. They got the momentum, but we got it back again late but just failed to seal the game out.”

Sevier County needed just seven minutes to cut into the lead and then tied the game in the 23rd minute after a handball by West resulted in a penalty for the Smoky Bears that they converted.

From there, the two teams had their chances but could not find the back of the net until Grimaldi did in the 75th minute.

However, the Trojans allowed a counter with just seconds remaining in the match and a last ditch tackle was hard and resulted in a penalty that Sevier County again converted to tie the match up.

Following a scoreless first 10 minutes in OT, West almost ended the match with 30 seconds left in the second OT period but the shot hit the post.

In PKs, the two teams both scored their first two shots, with Alexis Morales and Luke Biery converting for West. Sevier County saved the next penalty and converted theres to take the advantage. However, Grimaldi scored for West and Sevier County shot wide to even things back out.

With just one penalty remaining for each team, West saw their penalty saved while Sevier County converted to take the win.

Morristown West will be back in action on Tuesday, hosting Karns. The Trojans will then play Austin-East and Gatlinburg Pittman on the road on Thursday and Friday before closing the regular season out with a huge district match at home against Jefferson County on May 4.

“We just need to work on our mentality and being a bit stronger there so that we can see the games out,” Hanna said.