The Jackets beat high class AAAA Cedar Shoals in the championship game 3-2 on Saturday to wrap up the amazing run.
Cedar Shoals scored early on a Calhoun defense breakdown and took a 1-0 lead into halftime. Ten minutes into the second half, Cedar Shoals increased their lead to 2-0.
“With 20 minutes remaining and up by two goals, the Cedar Shoals guys really thought they had us,” said Calhoun head coach Ruben Maldonado. “They were laughing and taunting our guys, but we knew they had played a really tough game late the night before and we told our guys just to keep pounding away and we’d beat’em in the end when they ran out of gas.”
That is exactly what happen, when in the 20th minute of the game, The Jackets finally put one up on the scoreboard on a header by captain Josh Baue.
“You could see the wind go out of them when we scored,” said Maldonado. “At the same time (the goal) just got our guys electric.”
Minutes after the first Calhoun goal, Graves Etheridge scored the tying goal, and with three minutes remaining in the game, Baue capped the comeback and sealed the Jacket victory with his second goal.
“It was a classic Calhoun victory,” said Jackets assistant coach Steve Adkins. “We told our guys at the half Cedar shoals was showing signs of fatigue…. We have a deep bench with fresh legs and ‘it’s ain’t ever over, till it’s over.’”
*Earlier games*
Getting to the championship game was not an easy road for the Jackets. In the first game of the tourney they battled hard and pulled out a 1-0 victory over AAAA Lee County and then beat Mt. Paran in the semifinals 4-1.
Against Lee, Miguel Moreno scored the only goal off a chip shot that caught the opposing teams keeper off guard and far from the net. Calhoun’s keeper Josh Gregory recorded the shutout.
In the semifinal round, the Jackets, showing a little sign of fatigue from the previous nights game, started slowly and quickly found themselves down 1-0.
The frustration begin to mount on the Calhoun faces until, in the 35th minute, Jackets defender Collin French broke through Mt. Paran’s defense and scored a well placed shot.
The Jackets came out of halftime with renewed vigor. Rafael Maldonado scored twice, once on a penalty kick, early in the second half to ice the win. Moreno added another goal for good measure in the latter minutes of the game.
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