Some observations after watching EASTSIDE capture the AAA state title on Saturday.
* I thought the on-rush of irmo (that is for Manchester) students was very unsportsmanlike and didn't allow the Eastside team and fans a proper celebration. That being said I thought Coach Scott Halkett took advantage of the unfortunate situation and had a mass circle huddle behind the goal toward the main entrance. Awesome feeling to celebrate with the faithful blue/gold Eagles!
* I felt like Eastside was the better team and actually a couple of goals better than Myrtle Beach. MB seemed to hit a wall after the first half hour and were ball chasing the entire final 40 minutes. Good team, but you just have to wonder about who they play down on the coast.
* There seemed to be an occurrence at halftime of the AAA game behind the home stands. A bunch of Columbia police showed up and made a horde of irmo students dump out their cups and disband their party. Unfortunate but it seemed to go pretty smooth.
* I stayed on the home side for the AAAA game. Simply put, Wando was better than irmo on this night. I do think the level of competition helped Wando and the quick start was all the Warriors needed to get a foothold on irmo. Once again I thought irmo was out coached and for some reason it seemed like their interests lied elsewhere. I didn't witness any poor sportsmanship from irmo mainly because the team (and fans) was taken out of the game so early. Wando impressed with the speed of play and the precise passing game. Again, I think that goes back to the caliber of teams they played all year long. The out of state teams that have beaten Wando must be very good! I thought #19 took over the game and #17, #20, and #21 were all over the place. Only player that I thought looked above level for irmo was #7. He is a fireballer and if the rest of that team played with his passion then perhaps a state title would be brought home by irmo. The goalkeeper had a nightmarish first half and a couple of the "players" are more athletes than soccer players (strange twist for a school that size with the soccer background). I thought Lunceford had a much better game this go around in the finals than last year but still don't understand why irmo shifted him up top for such long periods of time. That played right into the ball controlling midfield talents of Wando and left a gap from the top of the box to midfield of nothing but black jerseys that played 1-2 touch all night.
* Good season for everyone that made it to the weekend. That was some good soccer and more importantly it looked like most teams were healthy at the final whistle with no major injuries.
* Again, congrats to Eastside which made its fourth straight AAA Semifinals and second trip to State in the past four years. Finally, CHAMPIONS!
