Sometimes sports can teach us a hard lesson. On Tuesday, members of the Chuckey-Doak soccer team definitely learned one.

Despite controlling play for most of the second half and all of overtime, the Black Knights came up short on the scoreboard against University High in the district tournament and found their season over.

After finishing 1-1 in regulation, the game came down to penalty kicks, and University High converted all four attempts while the Black Knights found the back on the net once in three tries.

Chuckey-Doak had its winningest season ever and fully expected to move forward in the playoffs.

"You don't expect to lose," said head coach Anna Ricker. "We were confident, but not cocky. We were expecting to play on Thursday."

The two squads scored their lone goal in the first 13 and a half minutes of the contest and played almost another 93 minutes without scoring.

Senior Alex Perez was the only Black Knight to kick a ball past goalkeeper Brad Russell. Perez opened the scoring just over six minutes into the game. Perez's goal was assisted by senior Noah Naseri.

It was Perez who scored the lone goal once the game went to penalty kicks.

Chuckey-Doak almost added a second goal six minutes later after the initial goal by Perez. The Black Knights shot one off the crossbar from outside the penalty box. It was the first of three shots by Chuckey-Doak that went off the crossbar or corner post.

"Sometimes I think it's all luck," Ricker said. "At times we are the unluckiest team."

University High took advantage of the bad luck by the Black Knights. The Bucs counterattacked and quickly moved the ball into scoring position.

Senior Daniel Foster found an open space in the defense and blasted a shot past junior goalkeeper Lacy-Jay Bowman to even the score at one.

Neither squad was able to mount a sustained attack without being turned back by the opposing defense. The play was being contained between the penalty areas.

Toward the later part of the first half, a strange play occurred deep inside Chuckey-Doak territory. A University High player directed the ball to the net, but the shot was controlled by one of the Black Knight defenders. As the defender was playing the ball, the keeper came out and scooped up the ball. The result was an indirect kick for the Bucs.

The play became even stranger yet. University High attempted a shot after the play was whistled. After the ball went out of play, the referee determined the original play came too soon and awarded them another shot from the same spot.

Chuckey-Doak survived a close-in chance not once but twice.

Shortly afterwards, the Black Knights earned their first corner kick of the contest. Naseri had a quality scoring chance when he redirected Perez's pass with a strong header on goal.

Naseri's header was the last quality chance for either team before halftime.

University High came out strong to start the second. The Bucs nearly converted a defensive miscue by Chuckey-Doak in the 51st minute. Bowman made a good save to preserve the tie.

The Black Knights kept the pressure on the defense for University High in the final 18 minutes of regulation but could not convert any of the quality chances.

In overtime, two plays stand out above all the rest. Both were game saving plays and the result of great effort.

The first one was by Chuckey-Doak senior Jonathan Castor. University High played the ball into the penalty area and drew the keeper out of position. The Bucs had an open net and got off a quality shot that looked destined to find the back of the goal.

Castor hustled in and cleared the ball out of harm's way all the while kicking up a cloud of dust.

About a minute later, University High coughed up the ball deep in its own zone, and the Black Knights nearly scored but were turned away by a defender supporting his goalkeeper.

The final 10 minutes of play - sudden death overtime - did not have any scoring chances as the players were clearly showing the effects of playing so long.

"If you watched the second half and the overtime period, once we got to the penalty kicks we were exhausted," Ricker said.

Both teams played as hard as they could and had very little left when the game was over. Both team left the field tired. University High might have had a little more energy from earning the victory.

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MORRISTOWN -- Greeneville advanced to the District 2-AAA championship match with a 2-1 come-from-behind victory over Jefferson County on Tuesday.

The Patriots scored in the third minute of the game to take a 1-0 lead into half.

Harrison Berry notched for the Devils mid way of the second half, and then Berry sent a cross in for Chad Castainca to head in deep into stoppage time.

The victory puts the Devils into Thursday night's district final at 7 p.m. at Morristown's Burke-Toney Stadium.

ELIZABETHTON -- Homestanding Elizabethton rolled past South Greene 7-1 here Tuesday in District 1-A/AA Tournament play to bring an end to the Rebs' season.

Despite the loss, the Rebs completed one of their most successful campaigns with a 4-6-1 worksheet.