San Pedro Sula, Honduras – Denovan Torres saved two penalty kicks to lift CD Marathon of Honduras to a 4-3 penalty shootout win over Guatemala’s Antigua GFC in the 2020 Scotiabank Concacaf League Round of 16 on rain-soaked Tuesday night at the Estadio Olimpico in San Pedro Sula, Honduras.

The match ended in a 1-1 draw following the 90 minutes, and Torres would come up big by making the decisive stop on Antigua’s fifth attempt to secure Marathon’s place in the quarterfinals.

The rain did not seem to bother Antigua to start and in the 5’ the visitors jumped out to a 1-0 lead when Nicolas Martinez controlled a pass in the area before turning and poking in a shot past Torres.

Marathon almost struck right back through Edwin Solano, whose header hit the post and bounced away. That was followed by an acrobatic overhead kick from Ryduan Palermo that just sailed wide of the post.

The contest would experience a dramatic shift in Marathon’s favor in the 39’ when Antigua’s Kener Lemus brought down Solano in the area, resulting in a penalty and a second yellow card for Lemus. 

Allan Banegas fired in the spot kick two minutes later to bring Marathon level 1-1, with the hosts having a man advantage with more than a half to play.

Marathon were in full control in the second half, but they were met against an Antigua defense that stayed compact and held firm.

The rain was as intense as the match heading into the final quarter-hour, but a winning goal was not in sight, so matters were resolved in a penalty shootout.

From the spot, Torres was decisive, stopping Antigua’s first and fifth attempts to send his side to the next round.