The Register-Herald, Beckley, West Virginia

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November 8, 2009

Irish find answer to challenge

By Jim Workman

The Charleston Catholic boys were feeling a little added pressure to win their first soccer state championship.

OK, maybe a lot of added pressure.

“Last year they rubbed it in our faces,” Charleston Catholic sophomore Tommy Trupo said of the Irish girls winning a state title in 2008. “When we heard that the girls won again this year, I heard (teammate) Seth (Ritchie) say, ‘Oh, great, now we’ve got to win one, too!’”

The Irish boys came through, posting a 4-2 title game victory Saturday over Weir at Carter Family Stadium.

Charleston Catholic, rated No. 1 in Class AA/A, finished the season with a 22-1-1 record.

Ritchie gave Charleston Catholic an early 1-0 lead with a goal midway through the first half.

The game was tied on a bizarre happening 12 minutes later on a play that left even the official scorers baffled momentarily.

“The ball took a bounce and someone headed it for us (into the net),” Catholic coach Keith Hutcheson said. “We headed it up in the air and it hit the top post and came down in. That’s why they scored it an ‘own goal.’ I couldn’t tell you who they called it on. But that was sort of the way we were playing at that point, though. We were disorganized and we made a halfway effort at it instead of coming after it with our chest and going after it aggressively. We let it bounce. You never let the ball hit the ground on one of those. We let it hit the ground and it took a bad bounce and that’s what happens.”

Weir took a 2-1 advantage with a Steven Felton boot with 1:10 remaining in the first half, the score at the intermission.

“We were over-pursuing in the first half,” Hutcheson said. “No one was back on the other side.

“That played to their strength up the middle. We were flustered. In the second half, we just asked them to stay with their mark. We needed to trust our players. We did a much better job in the second half.

“We played possession, moved the ball on the outside and controlled an area,” he added. “It was a ‘best defense is a good offense’ type of thing. It seemed to work.”

Ritchie tallied his second goal early in the second half to knot the contest a 2-2.

The Irish took the lead for good on a Trupo score midway through the second half and topped it off with a Alex Higgins score with 19:50 left to ice it.

Taylor Farris had three assists and Trupo had one for Charleston Catholic.

“It feels great,” said Trupo, a sophomore. “We worked every day for this. Coach has been pushing us. As a team we knew what our goal was. To send our seniors out with a championship, it feels great.”

Weir ended at 15-3-2.

“We had the lead for a little bit and injuries took us out of it a bit,” Red Riders coach Joe Pepe said. “But you can’t take anything away from Charleston Catholic. They only lost one game all year.

“I’m very proud of our team, too. They brought us down here last year and they brought us back this year. No. 2 in the state is nothing to be ashamed of.”

— E-mail: jworkman@

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