Your four-time national champion Flint City Bucks have reached the USL League Two semifinals — outlasting the country’s No. 1 seed Des Moines Menace late Friday night.

The Bucks came from behind to level the match 1-1, weathered 30 minutes of fraught extra time, and converted all five spot kicks to win the nail biting shootout.

Despite entering the Central Conference playoffs ranked seventh, Flint City have now toppled three consecutive division champs en route to the conference title: South Bend Lions (Valley Division), Chicago FC United (Heartland), and Des Moines (Deep North).

Up next: The Bucks advance to play Western Conference champions Ventura County FC of California in the national semifinal at 8 p.m. ET Sunday in Des Moines.

The Menace were handed their first defeat in the league since June 30, 2021, after playing 14 undefeated matches this season n defense of the national championship.

Flint City is now 8-4 all-time (7-3 in the playoffs) against Des Moines. The rivalry swung back in the Bucks’ favor after the Menace issued them a second-round playoff exit last year.

Vengeful victory in Iowa: How it happened

It took less than three minutes for the Menace to strike on home turf. Eliot Goldthorp weaved through the Flint defense to score his ninth goal of the season.

After that disorienting jab, the Bucks showed tremendous character — staring down the familiar face of adversity and resolving to dominate the remainder of the half.

But the breakthrough wouldn’t come. Amadou Cisse was denied a penalty shout in the 6th minute. Wylie Trujillo and Eugene Quaynor played dangerous crosses in the 10th and 14th minutes that allowed Jelldrik Dallmann to threaten the goal. After sustained pressure, Emeka Eneli drew a penalty that Harvey Slade failed to convert in the 16th minute. Cisse then found space twice, including on a 25th minute breakaway that saw him beat the keeper and strike the back goalpost. Dallmann hit the opposite post just 7 minutes later.

It was more of the same after the break, with Flint City seizing even more control of possession. The most notable chance surfaced in the 49th minute, when Cisse found himself alone on goal again before being clattered down on a risky challenge from behind.

Finally, two consecutive corner kicks in the 57th minute yielded relief. Brajdi Cekrezi served one to the top of the goal area, where Slade made up for his earlier miss by redirecting the ball with his head into the net — even as his leap carried him from goal.

Intensity picked up in the final half-hour of regulation, with the two perennial heavyweights exchanging scoring chances, inciting physical confrontations, and incurring disciplinary action. Four yellow cards apiece was the count as the full-time whistle neared.

Then, into stoppage time, a relentless Cisse found himself all alone behind the defensive line for his third breakaway. This time, it took a red-card challenge to stop him.

With a man advantage as the 30-minute extra time period began, the Bucks resumed their patient and systematic pulling apart of the deep-lying Menace. But momentum shifted again in the 112th minute, when Abdul Kuku was shown a second yellow.

Inevitably, a penalty shootout was needed to split the teams.

Goalkeeper Isaac Walker stepped up to block the first attempt with a dive low to his left, putting the Bucks in control. All five Flint City shooters proceeded to make good from the mark: Trujillo, Cisse, Aedon Kyra, Seth Mahlmeister, and Hugo Bacharach.

To keep up with the Flint City Bucks, please visit the team website at www.flintcitybucks.com. Additionally, follow the team on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook.