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It’s Fun Celebrating A State Title In The Rai | Local Sport
by Local Sport
2 years ago | 9 views | 0 0 comments | 0 0 recommendations | email to a friend | print
The rain was pouring down but Trinity Christian’s boys soccer team

didn’t care. They had just played 105 minutes of soocer and upset the No. 1

team in GISA.

They were holding the state championship trophy high in the air as the

rain came down from above. They were tired. They were wet. I’m sure the

rain felt good.

As tired as they were, the Crusaders had reserved energy to celebrate

after getting the 2-1 victory in three overtimes. They had just stood toe-to-

toe with Pinecrest Academy in one of the best high school soccer games I’ve

ever seen.

The first half didn’t resemble a Trinity soccer game in that the Padalins

kept the ball near Trinity’s goal for just about the entire 40 minutes. They had

several attempts that just missed the goal.

The other attempts were stopped by Trinity sophomore goalie Adam

Ross. What an incredible job he did in the game. If there was an MVP to be

handed out, I would have given it to Ross.

With the score tied at 0-0, neither team looked worried. The Padalins had

created many scoring opportunities and the Crusaders, who only had a

handful of attempts on goal, were still in the game.

The second half looked a lot like the first. The clock quickly ticked down

with Ross defending each and every Padalin attempt. Then Pinecrest’s Michael

Briemie was able to get a ball past Ross with 12:03 left in the game.

Despite being down 1-0, Trinity head coach Aaron George looked calm

while the Padalins coach urged his team to hold on for 12 minutes. For them,

the clock was probably ticking by too slow. Trinity probably felt the clock was

going by too fast.

With six minutes left in the game, it seemed like Trinity had tied the

game when Leif Troelenberg got the ball past their goalie. As Trinity and its

fans started to celebrate, the referees waved off the goal. Trinity was

offsides.



The clock kept running and the next thing I knew, there was only three,

then two, minutes left in the game. With seconds running out on its season,

Trinity brought everyone foward and attacked the goal.

What happened next was hard to say. I saw a lot of blue shirts around

the Padalins’ goalie and then the ball went by him. Thirty-eight seconds were

left in the game, and Trinity had just tied it at 1-1.

The announcers gave the goal to Eli Green but he later told me he didn’t

kick it. George didn’t care. The game was tied and momentum had just swung

over to the Crusaders.

Through two 10-minute overtime periods, neither team scored. It

seemed like the same was going to happen in the third overtime. And that’s

where the game looked like it was going to be heading. But Trinity saved its

best offensive push for the final seconds.

With time quickly running out, the Crusaders attacked the goal. The ball

was deflected by the Padalins’ goalie and I saw Jon Luke Cannada run to it

and drill it toward the goal and past the keeper.

Pinecrest dropped to the ground as the rain began to increase and the

Crusaders celebrated. Those last seven seconds weren’t enough for Pinecrest

to tie it up. The rain continued to fall as the buzzer went off and Trinity’s fans

ran onto the field.

It was a great game. For the Padalins, it wasn’t the way they wanted the

season to end. For the Crusaders, it was a dream come true.

And the rain didn’t bother them a bit. They weren’t going to let the rain

ruin their day.




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