Campion Boy's Soccer places 2nd in tournament

After a successful season, the Campion Boy’s Soccer team made it to the championship game on Saturday night at the Union Adventist University Fall Tournament for the second year in a row. In the end, they lost against Sunnydale Academy, 3-1. 

The tournament began on Thursday with the team playing first against Ozark Adventist Academy, winning 7-0 with four goals from Johnny Lopez, one each from Alonso Salazar, Davi Viera, and Nathan Baez. In the second game of the day, Campion won 3-0 against College View Academy with Pedro Carriconde, Nicollas Rodrigues, and Gerrad Vat each scoring a goal. 

On Friday, Campion played their sister-school, Mile High Academy Mustangs  in a very intense game. Cougars started off with intensity, with Baez scoring a goal early in the game. But the Mustangs came back with a goal in the second half, tying the game 1-1. Then, with only a few seconds left in the game, Baez sent a cross into the box where Salazar was able to score as the crowd went wild.

Campion went up against Andrews for the semifinal game Saturday night. It was a difficult and thrilling game. Both teams fought hard, ending the time in a draw 1-1, leading straight into penalty kicks. Both Teams scored their first four penalties until Andrews missed their fifth penalty ending the game with Campion going to finals.

Davi Viera, Team Captain, reflected, “It was a very tough game to beat them (Andrews), and we celebrated that we went to finals.”

The finals game against Sunnydale was very difficult and physically challenging. After Sunnydale got a penalty,  Viera stepped up and scored the first goal. Then Campion got a  penalty and Sunnydale scored making it 1-1 at the end of the first half. During the second half Sunnydale got two more goals, while Campion didn’t score, ending the game as a loss for Campion Cougars.

Edward Dos Santos replied “I was very disappointed to lose the championship, but I was very proud of my team that we got all the way to second place, and we are just going to keep getting better.”

The boy’s soccer team season is not over yet. For the first time in over 10 years, Campion is advancing to the 2A CHSSA State Championship. They will play the first game on Friday, October 31 at 11:00 a.m. at Campion. 

Gerrad Vat, Student News

​