highschoolsports.nola.com/news/article/646050528350986897/st-pauls-beat-jesuit-to-win-the-division-i-state-soccer-championship/St. Paul's beat Jesuit to win the Division I state soccer championship
Ted Lewis, The Times-Picayune, February 28, 2011 12:38 p.m.
If there were a penalty for excessive celebrations in soccer, St. Paul's undoubtedly would have drawn one Saturday.
And gladly paid the penalty.
The Wolves' Will Gutterman scored off a free kick from Eric Schwing in the 76th minute and then led a spontaneous charge off the field and toward their jubilant fans in celebration of the winning goal in a 2-1 victory against Jesuit in the Old Metairie Apartments Division I State Championships at Tad Gormley Stadium.
"It was sheer excitement, I guess, " Gutterman said. "I know we're not supposed to do that, but I knew we were going to win at that point. There was nothing else stopping us from there on."
However, more than four minutes remained, and Jesuit made a determined effort to tie the score.
Three times in the next minute the Blue Jays threatened. The Wolves managed to thwart the first two and Seth Hagan finally cleared to Adrian McInnis, ending Jesuit's last real opportunity and allowing the Wolves an even more joyous celebration.
"There was so much on the line, " Hagan said. "After we went ahead like that, there was no way any of us was going to let the team down."
The victory gave St. Paul's (30-2) its first state championship since 2000 and ended Jesuit's quest for a third in a row and four in the past five years.
It was the first defeat this season for the top-seeded Blue Jays (26-1-2), who had beaten St. Paul's 1-0 in December.
"We made a couple of mistakes that cost us, " Jesuit junior defender Phillip Hicks said. "We just didn't want it enough."
Actually, it would be hard to convince anyone in the estimated crowd of 5,000 who welcomed the return of the state championship matches to New Orleans for the first time since 2005 that either team didn't want it very much.
The Jays and Wolves battled on even terms throughout, with St. Paul's finally getting the upper hand physically in the closing minutes.
"I thought we were the best team for the first 20-25 minutes of the match, " Jesuit Coach Hubie Collins said. "But after we scored our first goal, we rested on our laurels."
Jesuit's goal came in the 11th minute when Brian Barbara gained control in a four-one-three scramble in front of the Wolves' goal and made good on his short-shot opportunity.
Reduced to taking their chances from long distance for most of the first half because of the impenetrability of the Jesuit defense, St. Paul's changed tactic late in the first half, and it paid off with the tying goal.
Awarded a direct kick from 50 yards out after a push in the back, the Wolves' Jordan Daigle sent the ball into the crowd in front of the net, and when it came out to the right side, McInnis, the match's outstanding player, was waiting to punch it in past goalkeeper Greg Tortorich from about 15 yards away.
It was only the seventh goal allowed by Jesuit this season.
"We knew how good their defense was, " Wolves Coach Sean Moser said. "We worked on free kicks and defensive throw-ins all week, and it paid off."
Otherwise, St. Paul's did a outstanding job of turning back Jesuit's pressure attack, chiefly orchestrated by Stephen Cabos.
"They kept switching the ball from side to side, " said Jonathan Macheca, who with Hagan keyed the Wolves' defensive effort in the first half with several turn-backs. "We were having a hard time because of all of the pressure they were putting on us.
"But we knew if we kept finding a way to get it out of our half as quickly as possible, somebody would finally come through for us."
Both teams had their opportunities in the second half.
Jesuit's John-Michael Warriner sent a hard shot just to the left of the goal eight minutes in, and Bradley James and Joey LaVenia both had close shots that skirted past the goal.
The Wolves' Kannan Otillo sent one over the goal off a free kick by McInnis, and Will Crawford had one hit the crossbar.
Finally, in the free kick situation, Schwing, kicking from the left side about 35 yards out, sent the ball toward Gutterman, who fielded it in a crowd and quickly got off the shot to the right of Tortorich.
"I was just trying to get it into the box and hope we scored, " Schwing said. "It worked like ... I don't know.
"It worked, and we're state champs now."