The varsity boys’ soccer team won the Div. VII championship, beating Tioga High School, 2-0, on Nov 11.

“I knew we could win if we did everything we needed to,” coach Matt Vargo said. “[During the season] we worked on our skills and trained hard.”

The training paid off as the team lost only one league game this year, and led throughout each game of the playoffs. But the reward came as the team celebrated their victory by rushing the field.

For the first half of the championship game, the score remained 0-0.

Teacher Daniel Neukom attended the game, despite the mist and cold weather.

“Neither team was leading the way [during the first half] as the game developed,” he said.

Although the game was tied during the first half, Vargo wasn’t worried.

“We played most of the game on their half,” Vargo said. “We were winning the ball.”

But the players and fans, which included many high-school faculty, were thrilled when sophomore Miles Bennett-Smith scored.

“[Assistant] Charlie {Smoot] thought he missed,” Vargo said. “I could tell by the players’ reaction [to the goal], and I grabbed Charlie and told him we scored.”

After that goal, most fans and players were relieved and confident that the team would clinch the championship.

“Defense was huge,” said Bennett-Smith. “Once we scored, we knew we won.”

But the Cavs put the victory in the bag when Bennett-Smith scored again on a penalty kick.

Excitement rocked the spectators, as the team rushed the field and partied afterward at freshman Sam Friedman’s house.

Even the Octagon, Medallion and Glass Knife staffs ran down the hallways of the Gaylord Opryland Hotel in Nashville, Tenn. singing “We are the Champions” at their journalism convention, 2,300 miles away.

The team won without one of their star players, sophomore Calvin Fernandez, who had been red-carded in the previous playoff game against Jim Elliot Christian.

“I didn’t think it was a red card at first,” Fernandez said. “I turned around and [the card] didn’t look yellow—it was red. It was the first red card of my soccer career, and I sat down and started crying.”

In soccer, when a player gets red-carded, he is ejected not only from the current game, but also the following game.

The card took a toll on the team in the championship game, although the team was able to make up for this as Friedman replaced Fernandez in the midfield.