Michael Smith wasn’t falling for the mind games.

The Mesa Red Mountain goalkeeper knew he was getting deked when Mesa’s Frank Brzezcek glanced left before the biggest penalty kick of the match.

So Smith dove the other way, and his save ended a brilliant contest between two of the top teams in 5A-I boys soccer.

Mesa and Red Mountain fought tooth and nail to the final kick before the Mountain Lions escaped with a 2-1 victory on Wednesday night at Mesa.

The game was tied at 1 following regulation and two overtimes, and the teams combined to make nine straight penalty kicks.

But once Smith saw the eyes go left, he went right.

“I looked up at the scorebard and thought, ‘Man, if I save this, it’s over,” Smith said. “I saw (Brzezcek) look to his lower left, the opposite way of where he went. Normally when a kid does that, he’s trying to fool me, and I kind of realized it… Once I saved it I just went crazy.”

The win captures the East Valley region title for the Mountain Lions and will give them a first or second seed in the state tournament.

Red Mountain went ahead 1-0 on a goal by Austin Fares before four minutes had elapsed in the first half. Mesa’s Ruben Gonzalez almost tied the game in the 23rd minute, but his header went over the crossbar.

The Mountain Lions had a chance to go ahead by two goals in the 49th minute, but a penalty kick by Rayce Lawrence went wide left to keep it a manageable one goal deficit for Mesa.

Lawrence made up for by scoring in the penalty kick situation following overtime.

Mesa tied the match with 10:33 left in regulation on a penalty kick by Jamie Lara, and neither team would score again.

“You can’t say enough about both teams,” Red Mountain coach Jim Thames said. “And in the end when it goes to penalty kicks, it can go either way.”

Mesa coach T.J. Hagen had a feeling the game would be competitive.

“I talked to my captains and said, ‘Come up with five shooters, because most likely we’re going to (penalty kicks),’” Hagen said. “I had a feeling it would end up that way, and unfortunately it fell this way.”