SC Soccer Forums SCSoccer.com Forums Boys Varsity Soccer Northwestern 3 - Irmo 1. FINAL

dirty play gsdad? must've missed varney kicking alex while he was down once nw got up 3-0. the worst call of the match was the pk, other than that, the center ref pretty much took care of things for better or worse for either squad.

1st half was hard to watch as neither team wanted to play their style of soccer. 2nd half nw showed they were the better "team". irmo is good when they play as a team, but too often their individuals try to take things in their own hands.

bottom line is the best team won tonight. if you missed the game or are using excuses as to why nw won, you definitely missed out

It was a very intense game with both teams going at each other's throats for the entire night. I don't think you can sya that one team was "dirtier" than the other. They both played with a lot of intensity; however, at sometimes did let their emotions get their better of them.
Well done to both teams and good luck in the future!

My thoughts from the best seat in the house:

-The better team won
-Player of the game Ale' Martinez....man he's a player!
-Fouls were pretty much even...if referee wanted to be a jackass a few players would have been shown red!
-Players that caught my eye Zack Acree for Irmo and Dennis Moore for NW...Moore is a player...gotta be a top 5 player to watch next season along with Acree
-Best game I've ever seen in high school or club
-National rankings should not change because these two teams balled out!
-Enzo is Enzo but Kyle Hubbard played him well
-Congrats to both teams for an incredible atmosphere and game!

best game youve seen in high school or club young jeezy? Really? You must be new to soccer and havent seen that many games...this game was not good at all. Ive played soccer and have seen many games, and ived played in better games and seen better games then this. Not trying to disrespect the players but this game wasnt exciting at all. Irmo had one shot on goal and that was the pk...NW had all the oppurtunities and finished them except for the few great saves by the irmo keeper. I was pulling for irmo but this was not a good game and ive seen the talent in south carolina way better then this

being primarily a fan/coach of girls soccer, it is a study in contrasts between the boys & womens game.
the boys seem much more emotionally charged while the girls are more focused on the job at hand.
i guess the showboating done by the boys is a product of soccer on tv & seems out of hand at the high school level imo. i really don't see that type of behavior displayed or allowed in other high school sports but for some reason boys soccer gets a pass in regards to sportsmanship.
its almost approaching WWE circus type hype.
just my observation & opinion.

so when will they be showing this again on ESPN?, i would like to see all the action over again especially some of the strange offsides calls and what happened on the pK?

Irmo, Northwestern battle for national No. 1
By Sheldon Shealer
ESPNRISE.com
(Archive)

Updated: May 22, 2009, 12:09 PM ET
Comment / Email / Print The storylines in this week's South Carolina's Class 4A boys' soccer state final seem endless:

-- The greatest program in South Carolina soccer history faces the greatest goal scorer in South Carolina history

-- Undefeated state No. 1 versus undefeated state No. 2

-- ESPNRISE.com FAB 50 No. 1 vs. FAB 50 No. 2

-- The state's all-time winningest coach against the coach with the best active win-loss percentage in the state

-- Every senior in the starting lineup has received offers and/or signed with NCAA men's soccer programs.

Irmo (Columbia, S.C.) takes on defending state champion Northwestern (Rock Hill, S.C.) at 7 p.m. Saturday night at Memorial Stadium in Columbia. The match will settle the state title and the spring FAB 50 title, and it's being billed as the greatest match ever in the Palmetto State.

"This is the most anticipated high school championship in South Carolina history, without a doubt," said Irmo coach Phil Savitz, who knows a thing or two about state finals. His teams have appeared in 19 previous state finals during his 29-year head coaching tenure, winning 13 times. "There was talk about [an Irmo-Northwestern final] in the preseason, during the season and through the playoffs. This is the most-talked-about match ever. When we played Dutch Fork [in the 1998 state final] they held the game up 15 minutes because fans were still coming in. This will top that without question."


Northwestern Lineup

Enzo Martinez, who has 38 goals this season, has pushed his career total to 181. Martinez has signed with the University of North Carolina.

GK: Ryan Foster, Junior
D: Jeremy Dobbins, Junior
D: Shawn Ferguson, Senior
D: Robbie Benson, Senior
D: Cody Parks, Junior
MF: Javier Bonilla, Soph.
MF: Alexis Martinez, Junior
MF: Zack Clark, Senior
F: Dennis Moore, Junior
F: Enzo Martinez, Senior
F: Ricardo Garbanzo, Soph.
Irmo and Northwestern enter the match with 23-0-0 records. Both teams had four players each named to the all-state first team.

Northwestern, which has spent the entire season as the FAB 50 No. 1-ranked team and carries a 32-match win streak, is led by University of North Carolina signee Enzo Martinez, who has scored a career state record 181 goals. Martinez is sixth on the national all-time goals scored list, according to the National Soccer Coaches Association of America. Northwestern's other three starting seniors -- Zack Clark (Liberty University), Shawn Ferguson and Robbie Benson (both to College of Charleston) -- have signed with NCAA Division I programs.

Northwestern is making its fourth straight state final appearance, winning titles in 2006 and 2008. Coach Dominic Wren sports a 97-8 career coaching record, a state-best .924 win-loss percentage.

Irmo set the standard for South Carolina soccer, winning a record 15 state titles. However, Irmo is making its first title appearance since 2004, when it defeated Northwestern in the final for the second straight year.

Savitz has a career record of 545-67-5, which is the greatest win total in South Carolina history and currently ranks No. 13 all-time, according to the NSCAA. He has coached 13 of Irmo's 15 state title-winning teams.


Irmo Lineup

Taylor Varney is one of four Irmo players to be named to the South Carolina Class 4A all-state team. Varney has scored a team-best 23 goals this season.

GK: Rob Sullivan, Soph.
D: Kyle Hubbard, Senior
D: Oliver Nobels, Junior
D: Billy Padula, Junior
D: Matt Sieverding, Soph.
MF: Emmett Lunceford, Soph.
MF: Leo Mukofsky, Senior
MF: Mike Day, Junior
F: Kyle McEwan, Senior
F: Taylor Varney, Senior
F: Zach Acree, Junior
Irmo senior Leo Mukofsky signed with Coastal Carolina while fellow seniors Kyle McEwan (USC Sumter), Taylor Varney (USC Sumter) and Mike Day (Erskine) have also committed to play college soccer.

Both programs have underclassmen: Irmo's Zach Acree and Emmett Lunceford and Northwestern's Alexis Martinez and Dennis Moore all are tagged as national recruits for the future.

"South Carolina has had a bad rap in soccer," Wren said. "What this game does, with so many kids going on to great college soccer programs, is it validates what we are doing. These two squads are extremely talented. ... It's rightly billed as the game of the century."

Oddly, this state final matchup is possible only because of subtle shifts in enrollment in South Carolina high schools. Each state final features an "Upper State" team against a "Lower State" school. The previous two years, Irmo and Northwestern were both in the upper state bracket. According to Savitz, the reclassification for this school year placed Irmo, which has historically toggled between upper and lower state status given its mid-state location, in the lower state. Last year, Northwestern defeated Irmo 2-1 in the upper state final before winning the state title.

Since 1995, either Irmo or Northwestern have appeared in the state final every year except one. Irmo had a four-year run of titles starting in 1995 and added titles in 2000, 2003 and 2004 -- the latter two by beating Northwestern in the final. Irmo was runner-up in 1999, 2002 and 2005. Northwestern had two titles (2006 and 2008) and three runner-up finishes (2003, 2004 and 2007) this decade.

Interestingly, Northwestern and Irmo were involved in the Lake Murray Challenge to start the season in late February. Both won convincingly in the opening round, but inclement weather forced an early end to the event, preventing a possible regular-season meeting.

Irmo and Northwestern have faced one common opponent -- Chapin High School. Irmo won 3-0 at home against Chapin two days before Northwestern won 2-1 on the road.

"We had no idea it would come to this," Wren said of an Irmo-Northwestern final. "In soccer, there are so many variables -- kids moving, discipline issues. ... As the season wore on and both teams kept winning it started to clear up that this was possible."

Through the teams' perfect runs, the numbers are almost identical. Northwestern has scored 144 goals while giving up nine. Irmo has scored 152 goals while conceding 11.

Both teams play 4-3-3 formations.

"Both teams have the explosiveness to cause problems, but both are solid defensively," Wren said.

"Will it be a high-scoring game or a defensive struggle? I really don't know," Savitz added. "I think it will be quite a chess match."

Limiting Enzo Martinez's opportunities seems like the logical strategy for Irmo, but Savitz cautions that is not exactly the case. Martinez's 38 goals this season are down from last year's total of 50, but he's spending more time setting up teammates to finish as evidence of his 21 assists. Four other Northwestern players have 10 or more goals this season, including 24 by sophomore Ricardo Garbanzo.

Irmo is equally as balanced. Sixteen players have scored goals for the team this spring, led by Varney's 23 and Acree's 21. Six players have 10 or more goals.

"Both teams have so much talent you can't key on one player," Savitz said. "They are so balanced. It's comical how similar these teams are -- in talent, in stats. It will come down to who executes and it could come down to a little bit of luck."

"Focus on the field will be a factor," Wren added. "Who can focus for 80 minutes -- not 79, but 80. Because that one-minute lapse could literally and figuratively cost someone the match."

Although the match is billed as perhaps the greatest meeting in South Carolina history, this might not be the final chapter in this rivalry. Of the 22 projected starters Saturday night, 13 are underclassmen.

When asked how the team is handling the spotlight of a No. 1 ranking and the impending showdown with Irmo, Wren responded: "We preach that at Northwestern there's no pressure, only opportunity. We look at it as a challenge ... and the best thing about it is the amount of respect this game will gather for South Carolina soccer."

Sheldon Shealer covers youth soccer for ESPNRISE.com. He can be reached at Sheldon.Shealer@espn.com.

I saw what happened on the pk. A player in the wall stuck his hand up in the air and knocked the ball down. It was a handball in the box. Intentional.

I don't think that was it.

After the ball hit the wall(could have been a hand) the ball bounced back to Acree who dribbled by a couple of defenders into the box before losing it, after NW cleared the ball, Acree was shoved to the ground. The AR saw it but the center was looking a different way. After a discussion Irmo was awarded a pk.

I do not understand that pk at all. First Alex was outside the box by two or three yards. Neither the head ref or the linesman called it. The fourth official is supposedly the one who called it after Savitz, there boss who writes their paychecks, schedules them etc... started whispering in their ears, told the head ref it was a hand ball in the box. Should have been 5-0 NW. Irmo was not as good as everyone hyped them up to be. My personal favorite was when pinger got crossed over by Alex and had to arm tackle him to stop him. Maybe now NW will get the respect they deserve.