Deering High scoring ace Hany Ramadan had seen precious few scoring opportunities. Then, in the second overtime, the ball came to him.

Stephen Ochan headed Ahmed Adnan’s corner kick across the goal mouth. Thornton Academy keeper Andrew Coleman made one reflexive save.

“It was like five people touched the ball,” Ramadan said. “Then I saw the ball and I just kicked it.”

Ramadan’s goal with 6:01 left in the second overtime gave fourth-seeded Deering (13-1-1) a 2-1 victory in a Western Class A quarterfinal and left No. 5 Thornton (9-4-3) wondering what might have been.

On a night when both team’s stars shone brightly, Thornton striker Simon Trcka was the most dangerous. And the most unlucky. Three gorgeous Strcka shots hit the goal and stayed out: an airborne heel flick deep in the crease crawled across the crossbar in the first half; a bending 30-yard direct kick beat the dive of Deering keeper Orey Dutton but banged off the right post in the second half; a boomer off a quick corner kick from Eric Gooch hit the underside of the crossbar and bounced out in the first overtime.

“Unfortunately Simon had some brilliant play and the woodwork was not in our favor,” Thornton Coach Andrew Carlson said.

“It was horrible,” said Trcka, a boarding student from Prague, Czech Republic.

“All the shots were good but just unlucky.”

Deering advances to a regional semifinal Saturday against the winner of Wednesday night’s game between No. 8 Marshwood and No. 1 Scarborough.

Rams Coach Joel Costigan was not at Tuesday’s game. He was serving a one-game suspension after receving two yellow cards in the final regular-season game at Sanford. Miles Bisher filled in. Costigan will be back on the sideline Saturday.

“Coach and I talked to them about this not being the coaching staff’s team. The team belongs to them,” Bisher said. “They play for each other and when they do that people have a hard time beating them.”

Deering had near misses, too.

With 30 seconds left in regulation, Ochan put a throw-in deep into the box, setting up Brendan McNally for a forceful header off the crossbar. Less than a minute before the winner, Adnan was denied on a long-range blast by a leaping Coleman. The shot came after a surprise short throw by Ochan.

“I was excited. I was already celebrating,” Ochan said. “Their goalkeeper was phenomenal and that was one of his best saves.”

Ochan opened the scoring with 15:53 left in the first half when he was the last of several players, including Thornton’s Dalton Moore, to get his head on an Adnan corner kick.

Moore tied it with 32:09 left in the second half, banging in a rebound after Dutton stopped a point-blank bid by Trcka.

“We feel disappointed,” Moore said. “They’re a very good team. We left everything on the field and we competed with them. The last five minutes they executed better than we did and they ended up with that result.”

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