Thursday, Oct. 5 featured the much anticipated matchup between the young upstart Centurions (4-6) and the proven Ocean County Vikings (7-3-1) that promised to be a nail-biter.
The game lived up to the hype by going into overtime but this time it was the other team that came up in the clutch as Ocean mid-fielder Steve Guedes scored 2 goals in a 2-1 win over the Centurions.

The Centurions were supposed to open the season against Ocean but the game was rained out. The game was then rescheduled for Oct. 5, a rare Friday game.

The Centurions started out the game going stride for stride with the Vikings, despite the difference in team records.

The Vikings struck the first offensive blow when Guedes scored his first goal halfway through the first half giving Ocean a 1-0 lead.

If the Centurions confidence was shaken it certainly did not show as they got back to work on Ocean’s goalie, Jamie Pace.

The offensive chances by the Centurions were squandered as they were not able to settle the ball down or get a clear shot.

Ocean then got a chance to extend their lead with a free kick but Centurion defenders were able to turn it back and keep the game close going into halftime.

Coach Justin Burroughs decided to ride the hot hand of Damon Custer for the second game in a row and Damon had rewarded him with solid play in the first half. His time was up when Mike Klimonicz came into the game for him after halftime to finish the job.

Coming into the second half, the Centurions played hard, but with nothing to show for it. Dan Foley changed that when he raced down field and scored an improbable goal, changing  the game to 1-1.

The rest of the half probably seemed like an eternity to both schools as they watched their respective teams come close to taking the lead, but came up short.

The game would go on to be settled in overtime.

The Centurions kept the game’s competitive flow going for the first few minutes of overtime but then got sloppy on defense.

Guedes of the Vikings got free on a breakaway but saw his shot turned back by Klimonicz. The same exact play happened a few minutes later and this time Guedes was able to bang it home and score the game-winning goal.

“I was just able to sneak behind the defenders and get free for scoring opportunities” said Guedes, “I owe a lot of today’s success to help from my teammates.”

Kirk Pericciuoli, the head coach of the Ocean County Vikings, said his team played well and that the game was close until his men pulled through in overtime.

When asked about any kind of motivational speech before overtime, he said, “I didn’t do anything special except telling them to try and recapture the offensive magic that got us the first goal.”

Centurion Dan Foley spoke after the game on his recent success and said “I just feel more comfortable with the team now but early in the season we were still trying to get used to the new players and we were kind of tense.”

Klimonicz was asked after the game how Guedes was able to capitalize on his second opportunity in overtime he said, “His first shot was fired right towards me but his second shot went far enough over to the opposite side of me to score.”

Coach Justin Burroughs gave his thoughts after the game.

“It was a tough game and we were down early but we kept playing hard,” he said.

Ocean has three top 25 scorers in the division and all three were shut down during the game against Bucks. The Centurions (4-7) gave the Vikings (8-3-1) all they could handle that day, but the Vikings just had a little bit more.