Howard senior Dylan Kimmel didn’t hesitate. As Thursday’s game against Mt. Hebron ventured into its fifth overtime, Kimmel saw fellow senior Alex Reeb sprinting down toward him to set a screen.

Kimmel wrapped around the screen and a crease opened as Mt. Hebron was late to slide. He took several steps to improve his shooting angle and rifled the high shot past Vikings goalie Logan Dempsey, which completed a hat track and, most importantly, ended the five-overtime marathon with an 8-7 Lions victory.

Kimmel, who netted his second career high school game-winner, launched his stick high in the air in euphoria and sprinted to the other side of the field, chased by excited teammates.

“I was thinking, ‘Do I shoot low? Do I shoot high?” Kimmel said. “I was going to shoot no matter what because they weren’t sliding to me, so I was ready to let it go. It’s a huge rivalry. Basketball, football, lacrosse, I’d never beaten them in my four years, so it’s awesome. Your mind goes blank, you just start running. I didn’t even know what to do, I was just too excited. I knew we couldn’t lose. I had to do something; I had to step up. When I got the ball, I knew I was going to goal no matter what.”

However, before the goal came the critical faceoff to start the fifth overtime. Mt. Hebron’s Doug Cohen was dominant at the X all evening, winning every fourth-quarter faceoff and each one in the previous four overtimes. Despite that, Reeb won the all-important faceoff to set Howard up with possession and an opportunity to win the game.

“Coach told me to just go up there and do my stuff, maybe try and jump it a little bit,” Reeb said. “I got it done.”

Overtime didn’t seem like a remote possibility for much of the game. Howard (7-1) controlled the opening three quarters and led 6-1 entering the final 12 minutes. The Lions played stifling defense as the Vikings’ only goal of the game to that point came with an extra man. However, things quickly changed in the fourth quarter and Mt. Hebron came storming back.

The Vikings (2-6) scored six straight goals in the first six minutes of the fourth to take their first lead of the game. Colgan Hauf and Will Kettering keyed that stretch as each scored a pair of goals to start the comeback.

All even at 7 after four quarters, several chaotic and eclectic overtime periods would come to follow.

Mt. Hebron controlled possession in each of the first four overtimes, spearheaded by Cohen’s sensational faceoff performance. The Vikings rattled a pair of shots off the post and also were unable to convert on either of their extra-man opportunities across the overtimes. Howard sophomore goalie Enan Meyenburg played a big part in that.

The young netminder who came on to start the second half didn’t have a save in regulation. Yet he stepped up when the pressure was highest with seven saves in the overtime periods, several of which came down a player. Meyenburg stopped his final shot of the contest late in the fourth overtime to keep Howard alive.

“Just not thinking about it,” Meyenburg said of his mentality. “Goalie is a back-and-forth position. You lose a couple, you just got to keep the mentality to come back and get more than you lost. Make the save, see the ball, save the ball.”

The Lions’ Den was buzzing with energy ahead of the fifth overtime. That palpable excitement elevated to new heights when Reeb and the Lions secured possession with the potential to end the seemingly never-ending battle.

They didn’t squander that chance as Kimmel’s highlight high-to-high shot capped off a thrilling evening and sent the home team into elation and the visitors into heartbreak.

“Just relief,” Howard coach Shea Conway said of his emotions postgame. “Thinking back to all the little plays that led us to that point. Dylan got the game-winning goal, but when we watch film tomorrow, when we regroup and take a look at this, there’s going to be a lot of individual plays that don’t get the recognition. Like a ground ball here, or a slide here, or chasing a ball out on the end line. Those are the little moments that built up to him getting an opportunity to shoot, score and win the game.”

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