By Kai Raymer (For OzarksSportsZone.com)
When the game clock hit zero, senior midfielder Dake Winslow expected to feel a rush of emotions.
After all, New Covenant Academy had just won its first district title since 2007.
Instead, Winslow and his NCA teammates gave a few high-fives and calmly walked off the field.
“I thought I’d feel more excited. I don’t know,” Winslow said. “I guess I’m just more focused on the games ahead. I’m always looking ahead, not at the present. This game’s over, time to start thinking about the next one.”
Call it focus or exhaustion from a long season, what matters is this: The Warriors are district soccer champions for the first time since 2007.
New Covenant defeated Fair Grove 3-1 in Thursday night’s Class 1 District 5 Tournament title game, thanks to early goals in each half.
It’s a long-awaited result for the Warriors, who have had good teams fall short in districts in recent years.
“It means quite a bit,” Winslow said. “There was a lot of build up to this game, this moment. The past four years, all the seniors who graduated have wanted to (win) this, but they couldn’t. They were here watching tonight. I think we made them proud.”
Said NCA coach Eric Crain: “This is because of those groups before us. Our success carries over.”
NCA will host Fatima (5-13 overall) in a Class 1 quarterfinal on Tuesday, October 10. Game time and specific field is to be determined.
Fatima upset Dixon (10-6 overall) 3-2 on Wednesday night to win the District 5 title.
Crain said NCA’s subdued celebration was due in part to a grueling season of precautions and safety measures.
“I think what took it out of us was guys are (tired) and worn out. The excitement’s there, it is, but we’re dealing with some COVID stuff and there are lot of emotions out there,” he said. “I’m not sure if they exactly know what they just did, but we’ll keep reminding them day after day and prepare for our next game.”
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Sophomore Landon Cummings put NCA ahead in the second minute when he capitalized on a rebound.
Winslow had made a deep run on the left side and sent a crosser into the box. The ball bounced around a few times before Cummings put it away.
“(Early goals) just kind of knock the nerves off of you,” Crain said.
The Warriors made it 2-0 in the 37th minute when Winslow’s corner kick found sophomore Levi Nichols, who made the finish.
Winslow put NCA ahead for good in the 43rd minute. He placed a free kick on the ground from about 20 yards out, past the Fair Grove wall and inside the left post.
Winslow was a threat all night with his playmaking. He placed multiple shots on frame and hit the crossbar twice.
Fair Grove cut it to 3-1 in the 48th minute on Tyler Padgett’s goal. It gave the Eagles a jolt of energy but they could draw no closer.
“We lost our style the last 15 to 20 minutes of the game, so it became real nervous,” Crain said. “If we can continue playing our style – passing and shifting – it’s going to be real fun moving forward.”
NCA and Fair Grove played less than two weeks ago in the regular season, with the Warriors prevailing 4-0 then.
“(NCA) passes really well. We knew they were going to possess well,” said Fair Grove coach Matthew Novak. “They have three or four solid guys who could go on to play at the next level. We knew what they had. We prepared for them as best we could.”
Both teams played with depleted rosters on Thursday night.
Fair Grove had four players go into what Novak described as “last-minute” quarantine this week. Two of the players were in Fair Grove’s normal starting lineup.
NCA had its starting goalkeeper – Dillon Dougherty – go into quarantine just a few hours before Thursday’s game. Crain said Dougherty should be able to return for Tuesday’s quarterfinal match against Fatima.
“It’s not that he’s completely stuck there (in quarantine), but we didn’t have all the information yet and we had to move forward,” Crain said. “Most likely, we’ll get him back by Tuesday. But we had to think big picture and follow protocols. We didn’t want to expose him to everyone else on our team.”
Fair Grove finishes 5-12-1 overall. The Eagles upset state-ranked Laquey in the district semifinals on Tuesday night.
Fair Grove graduates four seniors but has seven current juniors ready to take over next season.
“I was proud of our team. We came ready to play. We’re a postseason team. (Our players) know when it’s time to be serious and give it 100%,” Novak said. “It didn’t go the way we wanted, but there’s always next year.”
NCA improved to 15-4 overall. The Warriors have won eight straight since losing 2-1 at Parkview on October 2.
