On Tuesday, the Mount Si Wildcat boys’ soccer team fell to Liberty 3-1. Liberty grabbed a 2-0 lead in the first half and, despite a late goal by the Wildcats’ Jace Derwin, never looked back. Mount Si fell to 0-3 in conference play, the only winless Kingco team left.

Last Friday night’s game with Interlake was an amazing effort on both sides of the ball. The Wildcats and Saints ended in a 1-1 tie, but the contest will be remembered for two things: the very rough play and controversial officiating.

Mount Si had their chances early on in the game, but were unable to finish. Then, about 20 minutes into the game, that changed.

Derwin was assessed a yellow card for rough play but it appeared the call, at least to the Mount Si side, was questionable. A few minutes later, the Saints’ Kyle Hosley scored to give Interlake the lead after the Wildcats had a huge scoring chance in the previous possession.

Things only got rougher in the second half. Mount Si’s Dane Portscheller had to be taken to the sideline after suffering what appeared to be a head injury, then in the 51st minute, all broke loose.

After Derwin got his second yellow card, he was assessed a red card resulting in his ejection from the contest and an automatic one-game suspension. Fellow captain Andrew Talevich protested the call to the referee, who gave the Wildcat junior a yellow card. Then Wildcat coach Darren Brown came to Derwin’s defense and was also given a red card and kicked out of the game. Derwin’s card was again for rough play.

Interim coach Ben Tomlinson saw it somewhat differently. “We’ve appealed the sending off on Jace because it looked like enthusiasm that got him sent off – it was a shove on an opposition player,” Tomlinson said.

Brown with his red card was also automatically suspended for a game, meaning Tomlinson was expected to coach Mount Si in their game early this week at Issaquah.

After all of that, the Wildcats decided not to get mad, they just got even – literally. Gibson Bardsley broke away and scored to tie the game at 1-1.

Then the officials turned their attention to Interlake.They called several yellows on Saints’ players for rough play. But they forgot about the penalty area, missing two clear foul calls in the box late in regulation against Interlake that would likely have resulted in penalty kicks for Mount Si.

Wildcat Taylor Wise was assessed a penalty in the 78th minute as the Saints were attempting a free kick from just outside the box. The free kick was waved off as a result of the card. With the free kick, Interlake could have scored to take the lead. The Saints re-tried the attempt, missed, and the game stayed tied.

It continued to be physical in the overtime, but a 1-1 tie after what had happened was well worth it.

“It was fairly physical, both sides, and it wasn’t dirty physical, it just seemed to be kind of rough and two teams who wanted to win badly,” said Interlake coach Dan Peterson.

Tomlinson was pleased with how his team kept focused with all the adversity. “It was a credit to them that their energy was focused on the game. It could’ve got out of hand, but it didn’t because the guys were focused on getting the result,” he said. Added the interim coach, “We can build on this. This is a good result.”

Mount Si is home Wednesday night against Newport at 7:30 p.m. The Knights eliminated the Wildcats from postseason last season with a big win at home and made state. Newport is a well-prepared bunch, thanks to their longtime coach Paul Mendes, and will be ready to give Mount Si a challenge. How the Wildcats respond after what happened last Friday may say a lot about the prospects for the rest of the season.