Sat, May 17 2008
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Published May 07, 2008 01:42 am - Like it was ever going to be easy for Norman North. Reach the Class 6A state semifinal round six straight seasons, win it all the first time around and fall short the next four and getting back’s bound to be a chore. A big one. Ryden’s header propels Timberwolves to Class 6A title game By Clay Horning The Norman Transcript Like it was ever going to be easy for Norman North.
Reach the Class 6A state semifinal round six straight seasons, win it all the first time around and fall short the next four and getting back’s bound to be a chore. A big one. Such was the Timberwolves’ fate Tuesday night on their home field. Only fate had more in store. Victory finally arrived 97 minutes and 30 seconds into maybe the best game ever played on the North pitch. Kalen Ryden, a defender a long way from home, picked Jack Coleman’s corner kick out of the air and headed it past Tulsa Union keeper Michael Owen. One small irony from the game, after waiting so long to return to the state final and so long just Tuesday night to finally lead, few T-Wolves’ fans could have possibly seen the scoreboard change from 0-0 to 1-0, as hundreds of them stormed the field a moment after Ryden played the hero. “I think I’m going to score,” Ryden said he was thinking as Coleman approached the kick from the southeast corner. “I’ve been wanting a header goal all season.” The tally was Ryden’s third of the season and most important of his life. It was redemption, too. Only 19 minutes into the game, back in his defender role, Ryden was beat along the end line by Union’s Marvin Ebigwu, who crossed to the foot of Reggie Hardy, who failed to score only when stopped by the post to the right of North keeper Royal Mulinix. “We did not want to go to (penalty kicks),” said Coleman, only a freshman but clearly among the state’s most dangerous players. “We wanted to win in overtime. We wanted to break the curse.” It would have been a shame had it come down to kicks. Though Union claimed ownership of the game’s two best chances, from Hardy early and a point-blank header Juan Carlos-Bolanos couldn’t quite reach with 24 minutes to play, North owned the rest of the game. While Union appeared to grow more and more tired, every chance over the last 40 minutes belonged to North. For all the state semifinal history the T-Wolves would like to forget, they were beginning to feel their time had come even as a shootout loomed near. “I knew we were going to get it,” said North forward Corey Albertson. “We were beating them to every ball … “Oh my God, it’s incredible.” 
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