Crusaders take the prize

Nov. 2—There was only one way for Grace Christian to get what it wanted.

The Greenfield Knights stood in their way, and there was no getting around the longtime bullies of the NCISAA 1A soccer ranks. Neither was anyone else going to do the job for them.

The only way the Crusaders were getting the state championship was to go through them. In the waning minutes of their Saturday afternoon showdown, John Sebastian did just that.

As the 68th minute of the championship match on Greenfield's Forbes Field ticked away, Sebastian worked his way down the field, split two Knight defenders with some fancy footwork and then made his way toward the left post of the Greenfield goal. Two more Knights came to contest him, but Sebastian dribbled and danced its way past them, too. Finally, it was just him and Knight keeper Nick Wester. From less than 10 feet away, it was no contest. The senior blasted the ball toward the back right post of the goal to break a scoreless tie.

"John Sebastian took it upon himself," said Grace head coach Nathaniel Rhine. "We'd been studying film all week long. We knew if we could find that back right side, it was pretty open, at least from what we had seen on film."

Exactly 12 minutes remained to play when the ball entered the net. The Crusaders not only made the 1-0 lead stand up, they outplayed the two-time defending state champions down the stretch and won Grace Christian's first title in men's soccer since 2013.

"We had a goal every day of getting better. I told them 'Today is the day. This is the culmination of getting better. Leave your best on this field today,' and we did," said Rhine. "Greenfield has a phenomenal soccer team and they've been on top for years. We've been here before but it feels good to bring home that state championship trophy."

Grace outplayed the Knights (13-6-1) in the first half but neither team could score a goal. In the second half, the action heated up as each team sought to break the deadlock and take the crown.

After intermission, the home team came out and was in the ascendant for just over 20 minutes of the second half. Greenfield put heavy pressure on the Crusaders' back end and earned several free kicks and corner kicks. However, nothing they did could dent the Grace defense, which answered ever challenge and cleared every ball.

"They gave us some scares, (but) Griffin (Matthews) had some huge saves when they managed to get a counterattack going and our defensive line played calmly and composed," said Rhine.

In fact, Grace nearly scored off a counterattack in the 54th minute, when Tuck Howell had an opening about 18 yards from the goal and tried to angle it past the keeper, but his shot went just past the right post. Greenfield came back and had two more shots in minutes 59 and 61. The former came off a corner kick where Bryson Wall headed the ball toward the goal, only for Matthews to make the save. Two minutes later, the Knights' Porter Wells got off a shot which Matthews also stopped.

And then the Crusaders found a second wind that Greenfield had no answer for.

"With about 20 minutes to go, we had a second wind that I don't think they could match," Rhine said. "We made a formation change into a 4-5-1 and trusted our guys to find the open lane."

In minute 63, it was the Knights' turn to be back on their heels, as Guilio Chan got deep into the Greenfield end and passed to an open Howell, who got off a shot that Wester stopped. However, Grace kept the pressure on. Not long after, Kaleb Smith had another shot which the Knight keeper had to make a save on.

But it had been clear from early in the match that of all of the talented attackers on the field, Sebastian was the best. In fact, the Grace coaches had wished he'd been less unselfish on a few occasions in the first half, even when the hosts double-marked him. Throughout the match, the Crusader bench rooted him on whenever he had the ball, expecting that if anyone could break the Greenfield defense, it was him.

And so in the 68th minute, he made another run out of the midfield toward the goal, and this time the senior had made up his mind that he was coming and the Knights could stop him...if they could.

They couldn't.

"John saw an opening and he wasn't going home without a trophy," said Rhine.

Following the goal, the Crusaders continued to play in the same style and possessed the ball for about two-thirds of the time remaining. As the clock ticked closer to zero, the focus switched to pushing the ball deep into the Greenfield end and not allowing the Knights to set up their attack anywhere near the goal. The ball was in the midfield when the final seconds ticked off the clock.

Greenfield had won the state championship in 16 of the past 32 seasons of NCISAA 1A men's soccer, including two in a row, and last year at Grace's expense. In some cases, children of former Knight championship players had won titles of their own. But not this time. The 2021 title would belong to the Crusaders.

Despite last year's 7-0 defeat in the championship match and a 4-0 setback in August of this season, Rhine and the Crusaders (16-5) were quietly confident that Saturday was going to be their day. Not only was Grace vastly better than it was a year ago, they had played the Knights on basically even terms back in August. It was Matthews' first match as keeper, and he'd only allowed a penalty kick in the first half. Rhine was treating the early-season matches as pre-season games, trying to develop additional depth, and Greenfield blew it open in the second half against Grace's reserves. On Saturday, the Knights were instead facing a battle-tested team that had won nine in a row and had no injured players for the first time all season.

In the first half, Grace controlled possession most of the time, but the hosts had a few counterattacks that Matthews had to save. Meanwhile, Sebastian had near-misses in the 25th and 29th minutes, the first of which was saved by Wester and the second which hit the crossbar and went back into the field.

In minute 33, Matthews got tangled up with a Knight striker and another Greenfield player took a shot at an open net, but Layne Voss raced over at the last second and kicked away a ball that would have given the Knights the lead.

"I've got to remember to give him a save!" said Rhine.

Before the evening was done, Voss, along with four other Grace seniors, walked off the field with much more than that.