Not long after Daniel Tackling scored the go-ahead goal with 2:19 to play in overtime Thursday, the hotly contested District 6-AAA soccer championship game at Ooltewah erupted into chaos — and the Owls’ 2-1 win over Soddy-Daisy was all but an afterthought.

With less than two minutes remaining, Soddy-Daisy’s Jonathan Leamon charged the Owls’ James Reason from behind, dragging him to the ground and throwing several punches. Some pushing and shoving among the rest of the players ensued, and eventually Leamon and teammate Zakk Martin was given red cards.

Soddy-Daisy coach Moises Drumond and several Soddy-Daisy players insisted after the game that the Trojans weren’t the only ones throwing punches, though they were the only ones ejected after some calm was restored to the field by an officiating crew that walked off the field with a police escort when the game ended.

“What my kids did was not right, and they shouldn’t have done it, but unfortunately none of the three (officials) saw the other side of it,” Drumond said. “It’s just frustrating that nobody else saw what we saw.”

Leamon and Reason are automatically suspended for the next two games and could face further punishment from the school, Drumond said. Soddy-Daisy (6-7-2) will visit McMinn County and Ooltewah (11-4-2) will host Cleveland in Region 3 semifinals at 7 p.m. Tuesday.

McMinn edged Cleveland on penalty kicks after a 1-1 deadlock in the District 5-AAA final Thursday.

Twenty minutes after the game at Ooltewah, Owls coach Rick Adolph still appeared shocked at what happened at the end.

“All I saw was the first tackle, where a guy just laid James out and wouldn’t let go of him,” Adolph said. “I couldn’t see real well, but I didn’t see any of our guys throwing any punches.

“Emotions are running high and it’s a shame that it happens, but these guys are fighting for their lives and it’s intense and it’s crazy.”

The ending marred a game that didn’t have a goal scored until 12 minutes into the second half when Josh Veal took advantage of a ball landing at his foot off the gloves of Trojans goalkeeper Doug Ford.

Veal flicked it in to give the Owls a lead that lasted until Luke Johnson fired a shot from about 40 yards out with 2:33 remaining. The ball slowly floated toward the top right corner of the goal, passing just out of the reach of Ooltewah keeper Kyter Steffes.

The game remained tied through the first 17 minutes of overtime, but Tackling put the Owls ahead for good by taking care of business himself. He dribbled by a couple of defenders and, rather than passing, as he did often throughout the game, he paused and fired a shot past a diving Ford.

“All game long I’d been dishing it off, but this time I had a one-on-one and I figured I’d better take it,” Tackling said. “I did not feel like going another 10 minutes or to (penalty kicks) — (100) minutes was enough for me.”

n District 5-AAA: At Evensville, McMinn County and Cleveland also were tied at 1 after regulation play, following scores by Casey Villines and Robby Marcum, but McMinn’s Cherokees needed a 5-3 edge in a penalty-kick shootout to win the district title. Trent Huff, Tyler Snell, John Runyan, Stephen Stansell and Villines all converted for McMinn.

Robby Bursley made 12 saves for the Cherokees (10-5-1), as Cleveland (13-5-1) was credited with a 19-8 shots advantage.