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Ozark double-overtime win over Nixa features distinct Ortega flavor

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With the ball headed his way as he stood 30 yards out from Ozark’s goal Tuesday, Tigers forward Adrian Ortega had no hesitation what he was going to do.

“Lately, I’ve been a dangerous striker, hitting a lot of shots and I’ve been hitting them from outside the box,” Ortega said. “I turned around and saw I had space. (The defender) was about five yards off of me. He gave me space. So, I thought, ‘I’m going to take a shot’ and I ripped it.”

Ortega’s rocket off his left left foot hit nothing but the back of the net to end Ozark’s 3-2 double-overtime triumph over Nixa.

“Adrian is cool, calm, collected, composed and focused,” Ozark coach Zack Owens said. “He’s dangerous when he has all those going for them.”

“That was a great-looking ball,” Eagles coach Evan Palmer said. “I had a great angle on it. As soon as he hit, I thought, ‘It’s over.’”

The same can be said for the scoreless start to the season for Adrian’s older brother, Jose. Last year’s Class 4 District 11 Player of The Year netted his first goal in the first half to tie things up at 1-all and followed up with his second goal in the second half to give the Tigers a 2-1 lead.

“I joked with Adrian that Jose scores his first goals, but ‘You couldn’t let him have (the glory), little brother had to come in and get the icing on the cake,’” Owens said.

“Credit to Jose, he kept us in the game,” Adrian said.

The Ortegas don’t have any semblance of the typical sibling rivalry. Jose doesn’t have a bigger fan than Adrian.

“There’s no negative dynamic ever between those two,” Owens said.

“If he wasn’t with me, I wouldn’t be where I am,” Adrian said of Jose. “He’s always pushing me. He keeps me motivated.

“I wonder what teams think about us now, if they think of us as dangerous brothers,” Adrian added.

Adrian kept up his one goal per match average, as he has nine goals in Ozark’s 7-1-1 start that includes a 2-1 mark in the COC. With Jose having put his scoreless streak to an end, Owens suspects there will be many more nights in which both Ortegas net a goal.

“We knew it was just a matter of time with Jose,” Owens said. “I’m happy about because we’re going to be even more dangerous, now that we have our leading scorer scoring goals.”

Upon scoring his game-winning goal, Adrian led the Tigers’ celebratory sprint off the field toward the Ozark student section.

“I thought at first my shot was missing. I thought it was wide. But it curved back in,” Adrian said. “Once I saw it going in, I started celebrating.  I hadn’t been happy with my performance, so it was kind of a mixture of relief and excitement. I pointed at our fans and rushed toward them. It was awesome.”

Nixa (3-3 and 1-2) received goals from Zach Naugle and Andrew Butler.

The Eagles had two would-be game-winning goals in both overtimes that hit off the post and cross-bar.

“When you hit three (overall) off the crossbar or post, it’s just maybe not your night,” Nixa coach Evan Palmer said.

The Eagles controlled the ball for the most part.

“We squeaked one out,” Owens said. “They had stretches in which they had us on our heels.”

“When we got the ball down, passed it around, found the width and got them moving around, I felt like we were the better team,” Palmer said. “You can have the better of the game and still lose. We played some of our best soccer in the second half. We got on a roll and really were on them. But we just couldn’t find that game-winner.

“They were good in transition and they’ve got some great players who can finish,” he added. “Right now, we don’t have guys who can hit shots like they hit. They had excellent shots from a long ways out that were missiles. We’ve got some great players, but they’re not quite there yet as far as shooting like that.”


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