Sherwood Christian boys soccer season ends

AUGUSTA — It all came down to one kick.

Months of hard training, sweat and work. It all came down to the foot of Sherwood Christian’s Emmanuel Davis.

His penalty shoot out attempt was saved by Alleluia goalkeeper Ben Dresser to give the Angels the GICAA Division I state championship and denying SCA the coveted title with a 2-1 victory on Saturday. Alleluia finishes its season with a 13-0-1 record.

“I hate it for the boys. I hate to see any championship game end on penalties,” Sherwood coach Jeremy Davidson said. “I could not be more proud of my guys. They came out hard. The goal in the first half was tough, but they fought through it, especially being that they had to come and play at Alleluia’s home field.”

Saturday was different from the last time the two met in the Sherwood Invitational earlier this season. In that game, the Eagles were up 3-0 only to see the Angels fight back to earn a 3-3 tie.

The game went into overtime tied at one. However, overtime was not enough to decide the matter. It had to be decided in the cruelest of ways — a penalty shoot out.

The penalty sequence started well for Sherwood as Samuel Orr converted his penalty kick. Alleluia’s Ethan Balducci scored on his attempt, and the teams were tied at one goal a piece in the penalty sequence.

However, Dylan Evans’ penalty try was saved by Dresser, and Chris Hall scored for the Angels to give them a 2-1 lead in penalties.

SCA’s Seth King missed wide left, and Billy Conkright converted his penalty, giving Alleluia a 3-1 advantage.

Odoey Koffie stepped up and made his penalty, keeping hopes alive for the Eagles. Hope grew for SCA as Dallas Ausburn saved Mack McBride’s attempt, but Davis’ shot toward the left corner was saved by Dresser, earning Alleluia the state title.

“We played great. The other team (Alleluia) played great. We worked hard, but sometimes we just can’t win,” Davis said.

It was a game of contrasting styles. Sherwood Christian’s game is based on building through possession out of the midfield, against Alleluia’s long-ball style in which the Angels would boom the ball into open space in anticipation for for someone to run on to it.

Because of the choppy field conditions, the Eagles struggled to play their game in the first half, where as Alleluia used their size and strength to win balls in the air.

Alleluia struck first when they dribbled into the box and Dallas Ausburn came out and made an initial save, but was unable to hold on to it. Carson Hall put the rebound into the net to give Alleluia a 1-0 halftime lead.

Sherwood had some chances in the first half, including a header by Koffie that was saved by Dresser.

Sherwood got the equalizer early in the second half when Samuel Orr, the Eagles’ hero in the state semifinals, scored to tie the match. The goal changed the momentum of the game.

After Orr’s tying goal, the Eagles had more offensive possessions and more chances to score. Midway through the second half, the Eagles had a golden opportunity when Koffie passed the ball to Davis, whose shot was just wide of the goal.

“I think we outplayed them and outworked them,” Evans said. “I’m proud of our team for the way we handled ourselves. It was a hard loss. Sometimes the chips fall that way.”

According to Davidson, the Eagles were in control in the second half as far as possession and opportunities.

“In the second half, we had complete control of the run-of-play all the way through the overtime period,” Davidson said. “I don’t even know if Alleluia had a single chance hardly. I was super proud of them.”

The Eagles finished as the GICAA state runner-up with a record of 10-5-3.