Published: November 07, 2009 01:59 am      

Irish eyes are smiling into finals

Although in control for nearly all of its 2008 state soccer tournament Class AA/A semifinal match-up against Pocahontas County, in the final minutes of the contest, the Charleston Catholic boys team lost composure as well as the game.

That was not the story Friday evening, however, as the Fighting Irish knocked off defending state champion Berkeley Springs 4-1 to advance to today’s state championship game against Weir.

“It feels good,” Charleston Catholic senior Taylor Farris said of the win. “We were pumped up. We didn’t want last year to happen again.”

The Fighting Irish got off to a fast start as senior Tristan Ritchie scored on an assist from Farris just 3:57 into the first half.

Berkeley Springs charged back with 13:36 left in the half on a goal from junior Gudiel Guzman.

Farris, however, answered with a goal of his own in the final minutes of the half, and with second-half scores from sophomores Tommy Trupo and Anthony Cicconi, Charleston Catholic closed the door on Berkeley Springs’ chances for a repeat.

Charleston Catholic coach Keith Hutcheson said his players learned from last year’s collapse and fought back when Berkeley Springs tied the game.

“This year when that happened, we reacted quickly and got on the board,” he said. “We really just wore out a younger team. Once we got that third goal, you could see they were just really downhill from there.”

Berkeley Springs coach Jamie Chenoweth said his team worked as hard is it could, but simply could not contain a more powerful Charleston Catholic team.

“They just had too many weapons,” he said. “I felt like we just played an excellent team. It’s probably just Charleston’s year. Anyone in their way is going to get bulldozed.”

Despite the loss, Chenoweth said he was proud of his team and happy with its efforts to put Berkeley Springs on the West Virginia athletic map.

“It’s nice to be able to represent the (Eastern) Panhandle,” he said. “I’m really proud of that. Soccer is really starting to get noticed, and up until last year, nobody cared at all.”

Charleston Catholic will take on Weir, which defeated Oak Hill 4-1 Friday night, for the state title.

— E-mail: mjames@register-herald.com