UNIONVILLE — It was a classic matchup between neighboring soccer rivals that didn't want their seasons to end as the Community Vikings and Forrest Rockets met in the semifinals of the District 6-A tournament Friday.
The teams were deadlocked before a Randy Anica goal with just over seven minutes remaining gave the Vikings the lead for good and a 3-2 victory, punching a ticket for Community to the district finals and the Region 3-A tournament.
"The boys worked their butts off today and overcame some adversity giving up those two goals," Coach Jesse Cooper of the Vikings said.
"That was probably one of our best games we've played even though we gave up two goals."
The Vikings controlled the ball for the first 10 minutes of the game but could not score before the Rockets took advantage of field position in the next 10 minutes to take the lead.
After the ball became loose around the goal, Deason Jones found an empty net and scored with 22 minutes remaining to give the Rockets a 1-0 lead.
The lead for Forrest was short-lived as Ramon Hernandez headed the ball into the net four minutes later off a corner kick from Shane DeLeon as Community (6-4-1) tied the game at 1-1.
The Vikings had multiple close scoring chances the remainder of the half but could not score as the teams went into the intermission tied.
Hernandez scored his second goal seven minutes into the second half off a cross from Randy Anica as Community took a 2-1 lead.
Jones tied the game for the Rockets at the 18:35 mark as the ball bounced over the keeper and took a few hops before crossing the goal line as Forrest tied the game at 2-2.
The Rockets saw a renewed vigor after their goal, but could not take the lead in the following 10 minutes.
The Vikings broke the tie at the 7:22 mark as Anica used a nifty move to find daylight and drilled a 35-yard shot from the middle of the field over the Rocket goalie to give Community a 3-2 lead.
The play was furious for the final seven minutes as the Rockets battled to tie the game, but the Vikings maintained their lead and took the win.
"We had multiple opportunities and a lot of missed chances to score more goals but our finishing today just wasn't on point," Cooper said.
"But as soon as they scored, our boys were lifting each other up and we rebounded quickly and were able to get that third and winning goal," Cooper added.
Community plays at Cascade in an intra-county matchup for the District 6-A title Monday at 5:30 p.m.

Forrest 1 1 — 2
Community 1 2 — 3

First Half
F — Deason Jones goal (22:34)
C — Ramon Hernandez goal from Shane DeLeon (18:10)

Second Half
C — Hernandez goal from Randy Anica (33:02)
F — Jones goal (18:35)
C — Anica goal (7:22)