SOCCER: Bitter ending again for Trinity in state finals sequel vs. Westminster

MACON – The agony of defeat was no less unpleasant for Trinity’s boys soccer team Saturday afternoon than it had been a year earlier. 

For a second-straight season, the Crusaders and Westminster Christian – of Watkinsville – met in the AA state finals. The venue – Stratford’s Hutchinson Soccer Complex – was different, but the final result mostly the same, as the Lions handed Trinity another stinging loss to repeat as GIAA state champion. 

The Crusaders won the first half 1-0, but would surrender three unanswered goals in the second 40 minutes. They were able to scratch back only one of the two needed in a valiant last-minute bid to equalize the score, as Westminster hung on to win 3-2. 

“It’s a tough one to swallow,” Trinity head coach Aaron George said. “But when we got down two, we never gave up, kept fighting back and gave ourselves a chance. It was just not the ending we hoped for.” 

Both Crusader goals were scored by Gage Garnto, on the corner-kick assists of Will George. 

The first one came 20 minutes into the first half, when the latter’s shallow lob toward the box found the right spot in a high-traffic scrum for Garnto to poke it in. 

But Trinity would struggle to come across many additional opportunities to score again until much later in the match. 

Crusader shots on goal, from that point, were few and far between. Though plenty of plays developed, most didn’t mature into attempts that put any overwhelming pressure on Westminster defenders, or Lions goalkeeper Davis Turner, who made a habit of leaping to intercept most Trinity throws, corners and crosses that made their way in that direction. 

“We were getting shots,” George said. “Corner kicks had success in the first half, then late in the game, you had some corner kick success. As far as the shots we took, we rarely challenged the keeper, and just couldn’t put it on frame.” 

The Crusaders’ early score reversed the script from last year’s matchup of the teams, when they were the one down early and playing catch-up after a first-half deficit that grew to two. Trinity would go on to score three unanswered, one before halftime and two after, to take a 3-2 lead late in regulation. Westminster, however, evened things up to force overtime, and later came from behind in a shootout to win the match on a sudden-death penalty kick.

This time around, it was the Lions rattling off three in a row, all in the second half. 

Trevor Grace found the back door for goals to tie and put the Lions ahead 2-1, before John Donatelli delivered a devastating blow on a shot that stretched the Westminster lead to 3-1 with only eight minutes to play. 

The Crusaders’ comeback window wouldn’t open till early in the final minute of play, when they finally busted through the Lions’ firm defensive barrier with a goal scored in similar fashion to their first, on a Will George corner for Garnto that seemed to find just the right spot in a crowded box, clearing the reach of defenders by a few feet for his header into the net. 

The score, to make the count 3-2, suddenly provided Trinity a glimmer of hope. 

But time, with less than 60 seconds to play, was of the essence. 

After recovering possession off the kick, Trinity hustled to get it back down the field for a potential last try, and got one as Will George drew a foul just above the box with under 30 seconds to play to set up a free kick in prime position, with a very doable line toward the goal. 

But Turner was all over the senior’s try toward the top right. He leapt to snag it near the right post, and secured the ball to save overtime. 

Following his punt, the Crusaders wouldn’t be able get the ball back across midfield in the scant seconds that remained. 

“It was too little, too late,” Coach George said. “Just one of those things that, gosh, if you could’ve done it maybe with three or four minutes left on the clock, it would kind of give you some more time. They kept fighting, but we just came up short.” 

The Crusaders were on their defensive game for much of the match, and made their strongest showing in a shutout first half. 

Both squads came aggressively with some hard, clean slides to tackle the ball. Several sent players tumbling, but refs were willing to let the teams play, despite some frequent uproar from the stands. 

Trinity kept a steady rotation of defenders in and out to keep fresh legs along its back line, with Hampton Grosch, Ben Polhill, Cody Register, Thomas Polhill and Ben Castro-Poveda all chipping in quality minutes and some nice plays early. Each were Johnny on-the-spot when called upon to pressure the ball and prevent Westminster crosses on breaks into the corners, or to head the ball away and interrupt the Lions’ pushes up the middle. 

A majority of both teams’ early attacks were quick sprints, but the Crusaders – by and large –were able to force the issue before most of Westminster’s could get organized. 

“We told them all week long, it’s going to be a defensive battle just like last year,” George said. “They’ve got a lot of weapons. And you’re going to have to defend, defend, defend. And when you think you’ve got it figured out, they’re going to throw something else at you. You’ve gotta be on your toes and help each other out and communicate. I felt, for the most part, we did.” 

Westminster’s best-looking shot was at the 26-minute mark on a 20-yard rifler from the left by Silas Hovater, who had the Lion fans on their feet for seconds before realizing the shot – in a convincing optical illusion – had landed in a rear retaining net rather than the goal itself. 

Few of their remaining chances ahead of halftime turned into shots, thanks to some hard-work goalkeeping by Trinity’s Gene Hu, who got to the ball before Westminster most every time he had a chance to cut off opposing penetration. 

The senior laid hands on a Lions header with 26 minutes to go, and dove to stop one in a high-traffic situation late in the half. 

“Gene played a heck of a game,” George said. “I’m proud of him.” 

But Westminster, which overwhelmingly mirrored Trinity’s sense of comfort in the early portion of the match, remained patient, and quickly reversed the momentum after flipping the field by punching in an equalizer in the first four minutes of the second half. 

Colin Hovater crossed one to Trevor Grace on the back side, where Hu went left to try and get a finger on it. He couldn’t quite get to it before Grace, who was unaccounted for on a crash toward the right post, headed the ball in softly to tie the score at 1. 

It was Donatelli who assisted Grace with the second goal, on a similar use of both sides with the first firing a shot that rebounded toward the right with 18 minutes to play, and burying a left-side blaster for the Lions’ third about 10 minutes later. 

All three opportunities unfolded with numbers thanks to a slight tweak in formation that got Westminster an extra head or two moving upfield on counterattacks that, in the first half, had produced few second chances. Extra personnel away from the ball changed Trinity’s defensive equation significantly. 

“At some point, they were going to have to make a change,” George said. “They threw (Colin Hovater) up a little bit, which, man that guy’s a special player. He’s incredible. I love watching him play. You let him get loose, and you don’t mark backside (Grace) two times, and that’s how they score.

“It’s hard, man. You’re running up and down the field, and the wings have a lot of ground to cover. But sometimes that’s all it takes. If everybody doesn’t do their job, and one person’s out of sync, stuff like that happens.” 

The loss was a first of the year for Trinity, which had won all 15 of its previous games entering the state final. But the result spoiled more than their hopes of perfection, denying a greater sense of redemption after 2023’s gut-wrenching defeat at Mercer, ending in a scene familiar to Saturday’s: With Westminster celebrating a championship victory, and the Crusaders accepting a state runner-up trophy that provided little consolation.

The match, a last on the sidelines pre-retirement for a couple of local soccer legends in George and assistant coach Eric Cannada, also marked the end of an era that Trinity would have loved the chance to conclude in state championship fashion. 

But fate would have a different ending in mind. 

“That one’s gonna sting,” George said. “Last year was about as painful as you can get, losing the game that way. I was still hoping for these guys to get one, kind of a last ride type of thing. But I’m proud of ’em, I love those kids. Always have, always will. I’ll be rooting for them in the stands next year.”