Staff photo / Brad Emerine Boardman players Kathryn Taghaboni (left), Isabella Alvarico (center) and Raegan Burkey feel the pain of the loss Thursday night.

PERRY TOWNSHIP — Don’t count Boardman High School girls soccer coach Mark D’Eramo among those who felt two penalty kicks evened the officials’ calls late in a 2-1 overtime loss to Massillon Jackson in Thursday night’s Division I district final at Massillon Perry.

The first aided the Spartans, as senior Hope Burford converted with 27 seconds remaining to tie the score at 1.

The second one was awarded to the Polar Bears with 8:24 remaining in the first overtime and Jackson’s Izzy Arnold slipped the ball past goalkeeper Serene Khatib to end the contest and send the Spartans home as district runners-up and 13-4-2 final record.

“From my perspective we can’t really see what happened all that well,” D’Eramo said. “All I can say is that I trust what my players told me, and unfortunately the call didn’t go our way. There’s nothing you can do about it.”

Following a save by Khatib — who rushed from the back line out to meet an attacker — one of her teammates blocked a shot from about seven yards, leading to a mad scramble for the ball as it trickled toward the left side of the goal. Boardman’s Lily Essad was called for a shove in the back.

“A lot of times if it’s a close call in overtime, officials don’t make that call and try to let the players win it on the field without a call,” D’Eramo said. “That didn’t happen, unfortunately. But like I said, I didn’t have a good look at it either. I only know what my players say.”

Jackson improved to 15-2-2 with its ninth consecutive district championship.

The Spartans were the beneficiary of the penalty kick late in regulation when Jackson was called for a hand-ball in the box as Boardman was applying late frenetic pressure.

The Spartans were trying to rally from a 1-0 deficit, something that proved difficult.

“Once we went down, we played better than they did,” D’Eramo said. “That’s not to say (Jackson) didn’t play well. I just think we played to another level tonight. Our game plan worked exactly like we thought it would. We had opportunities throughout the game and our defense was rock-solid as usual.”

Several other Boardman opportunities were turned away by inches, whether it was a pass just off or if it was one of several offside calls against the Spartans.

“We played some great through-balls that were just inches away,” D’Eramo said. “In reality, we were inches away from one-on-ones multiple times. We just never got that one great connection.

“We knew (the Polar Bears) were going to push their defense up on us because our attack was faster than them and faster than anything they had seen all year. So there were some of those offside calls that were 50-50. We had at least three or four go against us. Sometimes they call it and sometimes they don’t. It was so tight out there tonight.”

Arnold scored with 33:53 left in the first half off an assist from Caitlin Bruni and the teams battled defensively until late in regulation.

“Sometimes when you don’t win, you feel like you did,” D’Eramo said. “We played like champions today. It’s hard to sit here on the short end of it and say that, but I am just so immensely proud of how we performed. We knew Jackson had won eight district championships in a row, but we gave them all they could handle.

“The fact that we were inches away from winning means I only have positive things to say about this team, this group of young ladies and the character they displayed.”