SOUTH PARIS – The gloves worn by the majority of the fans at the Eastern Class A prelim between Cony and Oxford Hills were doing double duty Wednesday.

Not only were they keeping hands warm on the chilly fall evening, they were protecting fingernails from the ravages of a nerve-wracking playoff game.

Abby Chouinard finally brought the nail-biter to an end nearly six minutes into overtime, booting a free kick over leaping Cony goalie Bri Rende and into the upper far right corner of the net to give the sixth-seeded Vikings a dramatic 1-0 victory over the 11th-ranked Rams.

Oxford Hills (10-4-1) moves on to face No. 3 Lewiston Friday at 4 p.m. at Don Roux Field.

“I wasn’t really looking for anything. I just played it,” said Chouinard, a center halfback. “(Having some opportunities just miss) was getting a little frustrating. We were aggressive. We stepped to the ball and my outside backs did a really good job.”

“I’ve been in both situations. Cony’s a very good team. They worked hard and I feel for them, losing on a free kick,” said Vikings coach Kyle Morey.

This was a classic matchup of Cony’s speed against Oxford Hills’ size. Cony (7-6-2) came out flat in the first half, but the Rams’ defense kept the Vikings in front for the most part. Oxford Hills tried to assert its physical advantage in the box early and did have a few chances, but couldn’t finish them off.

“We had some opportunities in the first half – hitting the post, just missing the far post. Missing those early, that usually is not a good sign, but we stuck with it,” Morey said.

The Rams started to press down a little bit more on the gas pedal in the final five minutes of the first half and continued putting the pressure on in the second.

“The first half they carried the play and in the second half, I think we kind of carried the play,” said Cony coach Sean Davis. “You can’t get much more of an evenly-played game than that.”

Cony’s best chances came in the second half, when Maggie Rende nearly sprinted by the Viking defense on two separate rushes in the first three minutes but couldn’t get past that one last defender.

Rende also had a penalty kick with just over four minutes left in regulation that Fox stopped in front of the left post.

“If we could have scored first we could have stretched them out and got the passing game going,” Davis said. “I think we had a speed and maybe a little bit of a skill advantage and they were physically bigger than us, and their throw ins and corner kicks were an advantage for them.”

Morey was just glad his team didn’t have to extend itself even further into the night because they face a quick turnaround before it faces Lewiston on Friday.

The game had to be moved up a day because Lewiston’s field is already reserved on Saturday for the Lewiston-Edward Little football game.

“I think of all the teams I’ve coached here in the last 10 years, the growth this team has shown has far exceeded them,” said Morey.