LAKE FOREST – Tyler Butcher had been in this position a little more than two weeks ago, standing in the box to take a penalty kick against Mission Viejo.
So he wasn’t all that nervous, though if he missed, No. 2 El Toro would likely lose its South Coast League match on Wednesday.
Butcher remembered that Diablos goalkeeper Hampton Erwin dived to his right and almost stopped his shot when they faced off Dec. 30, so at the last second Butcher changed up and went to the left with his kick.
It was a good choice. Erwin leaned to the right, and the ball slammed into the back of the net in the 79th minute to deliver a 1-1 tie for the host Chargers.
“Coach told me right before to bury it in the net. Don’t think about anything else, just do it,” Butcher said. “I felt like I needed to step up.”
In the 65th minute, a hard collision brought down Ethan Thrall, and the Chargers’ captain had to be helped off the field. He spent the rest of the game sitting on a training table with ice wrapped around his right ankle.
El Toro coach Shawn Watts said after the game that he didn’t know the extent of Thrall’s injury.
The Chargers (8-0-5, 0-0-2) were fortunate to get the result. In the 62nd minute, Alex Funez Gomez slipped through the Chargers’ back line and took a shot from just outside the 6-yard box, but his shot hit the left post.
“If you don’t take your chances, it comes back to bite you,” Mission Viejo coach Roger Castle said. “It is disappointing when the referee settles it. I thought we had a better part of the game.”
In the 16th minute, the Diablos (4-1-3, 0-0-1) took a 1-0 lead when Shaw Oddou knocked in a Daniel Valiente pass while making a run toward the near post.
The Chargers never really threatened until Butcher took his penalty kick.
“They were brilliant in the first half,” Watts said. “We stole one from them, but good teams know how to get results when they don’t play well.”
Contact the writer: ddottore@ocregister.com
