Welsh, difference of opinion, and no need to belabor to the point. Whether PP is one of the "best" depends on how big the group of the best is.

Sidenet,
Does it really matter? Pinewood went through this very same thing, and won their second title. Honestly, I think the group of players that are returning for Pinewood next year, collectively are stronger than the group of players that began the season for Pinewood that season.

Cayman, your point is this match, Biz's point is 4 state championships in a row, does pretty much demonstrate domination of the division. However, I agree the match yesterday was not dominated by Pinewood. As for the dive, opinion. As for the offside, there was a series of shots at the goal during that play. The offside happened with the first play in, not the 2nd or 3rd or even 4th attempt. AR had the flag up right away, and it took some time for the center, because of the action, to get the whistle. I agree on that there were two very good free kicks taken by CN, one scored and one was the indirect.

Here is my assessment of the game, and I'm pretty sure I'm not necessarily going to please everyone, because it's simply my opinion.

CN came out strong and Pinewood was on their heels for the first 5 or 10 min. Went through some back and forth and Pinewood kind of settled in and took some measure of control late in the first half, which is when the two goals were scored. Pinewood got somewhat comfortable, Coach Eudy made some adjustments, Pinewood didn't react, and CN pretty much was at the Pinewood defense for much of the sencond half.

The Pinewood midfield lacked transition play, which is something that has been a struggle for them pretty much this entire season. The midfield either moves with the attack, or settles to defend, but they don't transition well at all between the two. When Coach Eudy put 3 running up top to pressure, and with a mid field that doesn't transition, the defense was constantly under attack and did well to limit the game to 1 goal.

As for the fouls, Pinewood had far too many unnecessary fouls in dangerous places at bad times. I don't know the count, but Pinewood had a bunch. CNs primary threat was on the set pieces, and Pinewood gave them many of those without reason.

The Pinewood defense pretty much handled the young attacking front runners for CN, and with the exception of a couple of great individual efforts by Winstead, they were not a factor in this match, during the run of play.

As for the referee, perhaps a little inconsistent near the touch lines, but, Pinewood deserved every card they got. The CN player that was carded in the 2nd got away with a little before receiving his, but, finally got it. On the delayed restart, it appeared that the referee was attempting to card a different player, but he was really trying to determine the correct player. The far side AR, (where I was in the 2nd), was telling him right away the correct number.

I give credit to CN here also. They played with a lot of intensity, Coach Eudy and his staff had them ready to play and they executed the plan well. They just couldn't crack the Pinewood defense during the run of play. They were in the match up to the end, and it was an entertaining match. I look forward to seeing them again next year.

It sounds like a cliche, but, defense wins championships, at least this particular championship game anyway.