Life, and especially soccer, isn't always perfect.
Posted: Tuesday, May 19, 2009 12:00 am
OMAHA - Life, and especially soccer, isn't always perfect.
A bad bounce here, a red card there, and the team that gets outshot 10-2 wins. Monday night at the boys state soccer tournament was pretty close to perfect, though.
These were two great championship matchups, and a couple of games that will be remembered longer than most.
In Class B, it was an all-Columbus final between Columbus Scotus and Columbus. That was a lot of fun.
In Class A, it was Metro power Millard West against a Kearney team that people still have a hard time believing is legit. Trust me, it's legit.
The matchups were perfect, and the games themselves were even better. Chase Beiermann scored a beautiful goal to give Scotus a 1-0 overtime victory. Simon Schacher, a senior who hardly played last season, set up the score.
Millard West beat Kearney 2-1 for its first state title. All three goals were impressive, but the one everybody will remember is Cody Thayer's winning shot with 2.2 seconds remaining.
The matchup many people had been hoping for when Columbus and Scotus were on opposite sides of the bracket came true, and the atmosphere for that match was special.
There were about 3,000 fans at Morrison Stadium, the home of the Creighton Bluejays in downtown Omaha. You could feel the crowd booing, or cheering for you, Beiermann said. Chants of "Go Big Green" and body paint at a soccer game?
Old classmates and youth soccer teammates from town reunited in the concourse. Students stood in the front rows, and parents stood in the back row. After all, they'd stood for 21 games this season; this was no time to sit.
And how fun was this: Scotus coach Jon Brezenski and Columbus coach Jamie Bennett were both coaching their alma maters. Brezenski won a state title as a player in 1997.
It was an amazing scene, Brezenski said.
"We told the players when they get out there for the starting lineups to look up in the stands, because you're never going to see anything like this again," he said. "This has got to be close to a record crowd for a state tournament. This is going to be a moment these players will never forget."
Kearney was a great story, as the Bearcats were trying to become the first team outside of Lincoln or the Metro to win a Class A state title. They lost, but gained a lot of respect by reaching the finals.
"(Our players) showed everybody who was here that they're a lot of good soccer players out in Kearney," Bearcat coach Scott Steinbrook said. "They play their hearts out and play the game the right way.
"I think we earned a lot of respect for our program and soccer in out-state Nebraska."
Reach Brent C. Wagner at 473-7435 or bwagner@journalstar.com.