The ball is hanging in limbo whether the Falcons will head to state this season.

The 2-0 loss to Lakewood Monday put South Whidbey in a must-win situation for their next game at Meridian tonight. The Falcons and the Trojans will face off at 5 p.m. in Lakewood. The winner will advance to state competition, loser will go home.

Forecasting Lakewood’s game was a tough one. The Falcons and the Cougars split a pair in regular season play, but on Monday, Lakewood offense wore down the Falcons who eventually succumbed to a 2-0 loss.

“Our guys looked tired and our passing was off,” Coach Fran Einterz said, “But we never gave up, which has been a hallmark of the team all season.”

According to Coach Einterz, the Falcons only took 7 shots on the goal in the entire game, when South Whidbey is known for peppering their shots against the opposing team — much to the delight of the home crowd at South Whidbey.

The Cougars earned themselves a trip to state Monday, which gives the Falcons one more chance to redeem themselves before they are done for the season.

Senior goalkeeper Joe Gunn managed to shut down Cougar Bryce Barker, who is the lead scorer in the state this season. Chris Hackworth scored two goals — one in each half– on the Falcons with assists from Barker and Jordan Gwyther.

Lakewood advances to 15-2 in the season to play Sultan next, who are currently 16-1. Sultan sent Meridian packing 4-2 Monday to play the Falcons tonight. In regular season play, the Falcons defeated Meridian 5-1 and 5-3.

On their home turf the week before, South Whidbey was still running on a seven game winning streak high.

The Falcons used Waterman Field as a stomping ground Friday afternoon, and kept kicking Blaine while they were down.

Five Falcons got goals into the net, evening out the scoring over the Borderites.

Senior Abe Smith-Groening sent a power kick toward the net that made the Borderites duck out of the way — scoring the first goal of the game. Smith-Groening turned around to assist senior Adam Jaffe with his first goal of the afternoon 9 minutes later.

In the second half the Falcons didn’t ease up on the Borderites, and sent three more balls into the net. Sophomores Connor Adams, Kevin Dunigan and Ben Walker nabbed the final three goals — bringing the final score to 5-0. Walker’s goal — which was the last of the game — barely came in before the game was over with just five seconds left on the clock.

The Falcons will play Meridian tonight at 5 p.m. at Lakewood.