"Aiken did not prevail because they played a short schedule 17 games v. 26 for Spring Valley. Also they did not have as tough a schedule as SV"
"They did not prevail because they were not as good of a team as Spring Valley is. That is the bottom line and was very evident tonight."
And both of you are talking out of your asses. I'll start by saying that Aiken is and was better than Spring Valley. THAT was evident tonight. The fact that we played a certain amount of games had absolutely nothing to do with us losing. Our schedule was not the toughest in the state, but we played some very good teams throughout the season, and beat a large majority of them.
We lost because of a 3 minute breakdown late in the second half. The first goal should've never happened, but the second goal was earned. I could bring the refs into this(and for good reason), but I see no point.
Spring Valley is a good team, and I wish them the best the rest of the way.
As for the Aiken seniors, there's a lot to be proud of. They carried their team from being unranked to the upperstate finals last year, and took the state by storm in just the first two games this year. Had we not lost our starting left midfielder early in the season, had our starting fullback not tore his ACL against Ridge View, and had our starting midfielder not been playing at 75% after hurting his ankle against Ridge View, I think we're looking at a state championship. With an already thin lineup, injuries and dismissals cost us a lot, and they played admirably even without those guys. They weren't supposed to do anything the past two years, and they have absolutely nothing to be ashamed of with what they achieved along the way. Tough way to end a great season, but that's how it goes in the playoffs. Could've been a lot worse, could've been a lot better. Again, nothing to be ashamed of.