“They’re a pro team, we don’t stand a chance.”

A fellow patron muttered that to his friend before tonight’s match as we sit in the Valley Stadium, a physical manifestation of high school athletics’ prominence in the Midwest. It only takes one moment of brilliance to make a legend.

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As I walk into the Valley Stadium, I’m handed a bright, neon-green program featuring tonight’s match participants, the visiting Tulsa Roughnecks and our host, and heroes from the Opening Round, the Des Moines Menace. The Menace are taking a shot all amateurs dream of, to stand toe-to-toe with professional soccer players and prove to them that they belong on the pitch as equals.

I’m handed a copy of the Cityview, the alternative weekly periodical produced for the benefit of Central Iowa. Nestled between articles highlighting the likelihood of a Trump Republican nomination and an advertisement for Des Moines’ “Burger Week” is a centerfold feature on the Menace and their quest to add another star atop their crest.

Des Moines is not just any amateur side – they’ve been around since 1994, two years before Major League Soccer first kicked a ball around in front of fledgling crowds. The Menace have won the Premier Development League regular season three times, made 13 PDL playoff appearances, and took it all home in 2005. They also have six wins over professional sides in the US Open Cup under their belts coming into tonight’s match. I am most prominently reminded of their history, however, by the lone retired jersey, Number 21, Tomas Boltnar, that sits on the crest of a hill behind the scoreboard. Boltnar, for what it’s worth, is now a part-time coach with Des Moines’ youth academy, and a cost manager at Kum & Go, a Midwestern chain of gas stations ran by Menace owner Kevin Krause.

The stands begin to swell as kickoff approaches. This includes a sizable Bosnian contingent, keen on seeing local 18-year-old Elvir Ibisevic, the youngest member of the first team squad. The freshman out of the University of Nebraska-Omaha is the cousin of Vedad Ibisevic, the first Bosnian to ever score for his country in a major international tournament. The younger Ibisevic is as close to the hero of Bosnian soccer as these expats can get, and they’ve faithfully dawned their blue and yellow ahead of tonight’s match – everyone else is wearing the traditional red of the Menace.

Much like the game against FC Wichita, the Menace start out on the front foot. Left winger, and assistant coach, Leigh Veidman has picked up right where he left off by terrorizing the Roughnecks’ right defender. His ruthlessness towards Brady Ballew eventually yields a shot in the 11th minute of action, but Alex Mangels minds his net well and pushes it out for a corner.

Some poor service into the area allows Mangels to catch the ball, but three minutes later the hero from last week’s match, Mark Heath-Preston, has picked up a poor backpass by Tulsa’s Ballobi. The bouncing ball is squared up for a volley by the forward, also an assistant coach for Des Moines, but it sails over the cross bar.

Despite this being only the second game this iteration of the Menace has played together, you can tell that head coach Mike Matkovich has them gelling well. Tulsa, who has won just one game in the last eight weeks, has bunkered into their own half of the field, with either Taylor Morgan or captain Sammy Ochoa playing right at the half-field line depending on which side of the field the ball is on. If you didn’t know better, you’d think that the Menace were the team playing since March, receiving payment for their efforts, and boasting a great deal more experience than their hapless opponents. Soccer’s a funny game.

As the 32nd minute elapses, Heath-Preston and his wife are congratulated on the birth of their new baby girl over the public-address speakers. The Menace No. 11 is one of the oldest members of the team, and firmly ingrained in the community even though he spends most of his days residing closer to Bellevue University in Nebraska.

Halftime marches ever closer, and the teams are still deadlocked despite Heath-Preston’s best efforts. The ball finally bounces Tulsa’s way, and forward Kaleemullah is the beneficiary. He works past Austin Polster on the left flank, dribbles down the end line, and rips a close-range shot that Nico Campbell palms away towards the middle of the park. A follow-up effort is hit over the cross bar, dispelling the danger in the 39th minute.

On the other end of the field, Veidman has yet again found himself some space to operate on his own left flank. The forward lifts his cross high into the air, over the head of several Tulsa defenders and onto the forehead of Connor Corrigan inside the six-yard box. Mangels snatches it away before it can cross the goal line, preserving the tie as the half dies down.

Ramone Howell, a soon-to-be junior at Valparaiso, has Des Moines’ foot firmly planted on the gas as the match restarts, sending a barrage towards Mangels’ goal. Quick thinking and a sprawling slide by Mason Grimes keeps the ball from ever reaching his keeper, clearing the ball in the process.

Heath-Preston then continues his one-man onslaught of the Roughnecks’ goal a minute later, breaking loose for a one-on-one chance with Mangels. The forward elects for a low shot to Mangels’ left, and the goalie produces a last second kick-save that sends the ball wide of the goalmouth. As always seems to be the case, the corner comes to nothing and play settles down in the 50th minute.

Sixty minutes into this match and Tulsa has enjoyed few true chances to exert their will. One finally comes in the 67th minute off a cross, but Morgan’s header is sent wide. At this point, the match has already become immensely physical, especially on the part of the visitors. Roughnecks head coach David Irving has earlier been tossed from the game, and now it’s Morgan’s turn to follow in the gaffer’s footsteps. A two-handed push by Morgan after his header, as well as some undoubtedly choice words, yields a red card and an already beleaguered Tulsa squad must now play man-down for the final 23 minutes of the match.

Heath-Preston ensures it doesn’t take long for the advantage to pay off for the host, breaking away yet again in the 69th minute. A large touch pushes him out of position, but he’s now dragged Mangels off his line and out of position. All the forward has to do is square it across to Sean Hoek for a goal that is sent to the upper right corner, in front of the stands of the Menace supporters’ group, the Red Army. Hoek, for what it’s worth, was added just a few days before the Wichita tilt in an open tryout, and hadn’t suited up for the Reds since 2014. Just like that, David has loosed his stone.

The Roughnecks are firmly on the wrong foot at this point, Mangels has been subbed off following the first goal of the game, and the Menace make them pay for it dearly with ten minutes left in the match. Finally, the Bosnian faithful have a chance to truly cheer. Ibisevic and Heath-Preston have worked a two-versus-one and are barring down at goal. The teenager has the ball at his feet, and you can tell he has every intention of making this a one-on-one. At this point, a laser is sent off his foot and Jake Feener, Mangels’ relief, is frozen in place.

The brashness of this young forward, the overflowing confidence and swagger needed for any striker, is dripping from Ibisevic as he launches his bullet from 25-yards out to add a late insurance goal. The entire stadium is uplifted, Ibisevic, a Des Moines local, has surely lifted the Menace onto the next round!

Even I can’t help but stand up, give a fist pump and cheer for this goal. In half my professional life, I’m required to be a dispassionate observer of sports. Neutrality is my suit. But in this case I’m an active member of the viewing public and I’m here for a show. This is what I paid to see, a “Cupset.”

A late barrage on Campbell’s goal yields the same results they have all match for Tulsa. As the referee’s whistle calls the game to a conclusion, sealing the Roughnecks’ fate in the process, fans are reminded that there will be autographs after the game, a Menace tradition after every home match. The Imagine Dragons’ “On Top of the World” blasts over the speakers, and it’s as fitting a song as any. Jubilant fans mill around on the field, shaking the hands of the Reds as the Red Army sings boastfully for all to enjoy. This is their night, the first time the Menace have knocked off a pro outfit since 2005 when they dispatched the Pittsburgh RiverHounds and the Charleston Battery.

Greatness comes in the most unexpected of places. Hoek, a former Division II star at the University of North Carolina at Pembroke who had been out of soccer for year, and Ibisevic, a teenager just beginning to write his story, unleashed their stones. They struck true, proving even their own doubters wrong; writing their names into the fabric of a storied club’s history in the process.

The next challenge awaits in the form of San Antonio FC, a member of the Third Division United Soccer League just like Tulsa, on June 1st. The Menace are now one of just two surviving teams from the PDL, as the entry of professional teams has resulted in dreams being cast aside, at least for a year, for 14 amateur teams. However, the match will be contested in Des Moines yet again, and the Reds faithful will be out in full force to carry their boys on to victory.