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Photo by Jim Craven Ashland's Will Dolan (6) goes up for the ball as North's John Whitaker looks on. North, Grizz left in dark Match to be resumed today after 1-1 tie By RANDY HAMMERICKSEN North Medford boys soccer coach Rich Garcia has watched and coached in countless games over the years. But he says what he witnessed on Tuesday, "was a first." As dark clouds sent rain tumbling down on North Medford's District Field, Garcia and Ashland coach Eisa Tiaa Toutou squirmed and fidgeted through a 10-minute overtime session and two shootouts after 80 minutes of regulation play without settling the issue in a critical Southern Oregon Conference match. With SOC title implications and state playoff seeding hanging in the balance, play was suspended by darkness. Play will continue at 3:30 p.m. today at District Field. The point of resumption remained undecided late Tuesday night. Klamath Union athletic director Barry Gottula, who oversees SOC soccer, said the Oregon School Activities Association handbook offers three options: Replaying the contest in its entirety. Picking up from the point of interruption. A point of mutual agreement between the schools. "I think we're to the point of mutual agreement," Gottula said. Medford district athletic coordinator Bruce Howell said the issue to be settled today will be whether one or two overtime periods are played. "Do you have two overtime periods, so each team gets to defend each goal, or one period, like we do in league?" Howell asked. If the teams remain tied after overtime it will force another shootout. After playing to a 1-1 tie in regulation and overtime, the Black Tornado and Grizzlies kicked in eight penalty kicks each in 10 chances during the two shootouts. "I've never seen anything like it," said Garcia. "I didn't want to go into the shootout because I thought it was too dark. But the officials and Eisa (Tiaa Toutou) wanted to finish it, so I went along. "It was so dark, the keepers couldn't see the ball in the shootout," said Garcia. "They were reacting more to the sound of the ball being kicked than the ball. They really couldn't even see it." Ashland's hopes for earning part of a championship will remain on hold. The Grizzlies are 5-1 and North is 4-2. "We had our chances to finish it off," said Tiaa Toutou. "But we couldn't do it. "We dominated the first half and got the lead, but we couldn't finish it up. After we scored our first goal, we lost our focus. It was frustrating." Ashland took a 1-0 lead 53 minutes into the game on a header by Eric Harris off a corner kick. The Grizzlies pulled a forward out of their front line and added an extra defender to try to prevent North from scoring a tying goal. But the pressuring Black Tornado would not be denied. John Whitaker, who also scored in the shootout, took a pass from Jeff Zimmer to score the tying goal in the 66th minute. "I was proud of our kids," said Garcia. "We put the pressure on and came up with the tying goal. We had a couple of chances but their goalkeeper (Moksha Mokma) made two good saves." In the first shootout, Ashland took a 2-1 lead when Will VanAusdal booted home a goal past North goalkeeper Chris Barringer. After Michael McNamara missed a shot wide right, North took a 3-2 lead on a goal by Whittaker. Ashland then tied it at 3-3 when Erin Poppke scored. As darkness set in, Ashland took a 4-3 lead on Zack Potocki's goal, but North's Chris Endrikat tied it at 4-4 with a bullet into the right corner of the net as Mokma went the other way. That set the stage for the sudden-death shootout. But as it got darker and darker, and the rain fell harder and harder, the goalkeepers were next to helpless. "I can't see anything," moaned Mokma, after surrendering a goal. North got goals in the second shootout from Crenshaw, Jeff Zimmer, Kaveh Asgharian, Cory Hoffbuhr and Aaron Unis. Needing to match those kicks to keep the match going, the Grizzlies got clutch goals from Sharp, Benjamim Swatez, Jon Armstrong Russell Howe and Trevor Streng. Today's Sports Index Mail Tribune Copyright� The Mail Tribune 1998, Medford,