Gilman goalie Andrew Harris thwarted several scoring chances by No. 1 McDonogh in Saturday night's Maryland Interscholastic Athletic Association A Conference championship game, making acrobatic saves that had the Eagles simply shaking their heads in disbelief.
The No. 2 Greyhounds also made sure that two and sometimes three defenders focused on closing down McDonogh's Mike Gamble, and the striker with 34 goals going into the game was kept off the board.
But after neither team scored during regulation, the Eagles' Matt Linardi emerged as the hero, lofting a ball from about 12 yards out that somehow went over Harris' head and into the goal with two minutes left in the first overtime for a 1-0 victory in front of nearly 2,000 at Archbishop Spalding.
Linardi also scored an overtime winner against Gilman during the regular season. This goal gave McDonogh (19-2-1) its sixth title and first since 2008, avenging last season's loss to the Greyhounds (17-4-1) in the final.
"If it was any other goalie, we might have had three or four goals and won easily," Linardi said. "[Harris] kept them in the game. We felt very confident because we've been working hard all year. We deserved it."
Only one goal separated McDonogh and Gilman in their two games during the regular season. The teams tied 0-0 in the first meeting and the Eagles won 1-0 in the second matchup on Linardi's goal.
Gilman nearly took the lead Saturday night on a header by Christian Wulff that shaved the cross bar midway through the first half. The Greyhounds also had several effective counter-attacks in a game was physical from the opening whistle and featured two yellow cards on each team.