Stratford’s second-half recovery comes up just short in 2-1 championship loss to St. Anne-Pacelli

For the second time in their impressive playoff run this year, the Stratford Eagles seemed destined for a tie at the end of regulation.

In their semifinal showdown last week, that fate seemed inevitable because Stratford was stuck in a 0-0 slugfest until, quite literally, the last minute — then, with only 45 seconds left in the match, the Eagles struck for the crucial goal.

Stratford’s championship match Wednesday night was eerily similar, with the exception of two key differences: the Eagles were down one score instead of tied, and the magical goal never arrived.

Despite a flurry of great chances in front of the net across the final 20 or so minutes of a bounce-back second half performance, No. 2 Stratford could not equalize against No. 4 St. Anne-Pacelli, as the Vikings claimed the GIAA Class 4A championship by a score of 2-1 at Stratford’s Hays Field in Macon.

“Obviously we’re disappointed. But you see the emotions on these guys, their faces. These guys mean a lot,” said Stratford head coach Iain Jones, who was emotional after the game. “They’re a good group of guys. It means a lot to them. Hats off to Pacelli, they had a good side.”

The Eagles came up just a goal short of what would have been their second consecutive state title after they defeated St. Anne-Pacelli last season in the championship game.

“It’s a rivalry. We’ve been playing them for a while now, and it was a rematch from last year. They had the revenge factor coming into today,” Jones said. “They played well, but our guys fought in the second half. We just couldn’t find that equalizer.”

It was similar to last week’s semifinal showdown with Bulloch — the one that was won on a last-minute goal by freshman Brady Flournoy — in that Stratford could not get its starters clicking completely in the opening half.

“Honestly, I felt like we would’ve been more composed (in the first half),” Jones said. “Pacelli showed a lot more composure than we did in the first half. I felt like we needed to settle down a little bit, and I feel think we did that, we settled down a bit in that second half.

“We put a lot of pressure on them in that last 20 minutes, but that’s the difference. The team that’s going to be a little bit more composed is going to be the team that comes out on top.”

The Vikings did not waste the first half opportunities, scoring truly bookend goals.

The first score of the night came just four minutes in when some precise passing got Pacelli in front of the net, opening the door for a cluster of players to whack at it. Joseph Calvert eventually converted the chance, giving the Vikings a 1-0 lead quite early.

From there, a contentious battle unfurled. The Eagles had some decent looks of their own but narrowly failed at getting the pieces to fully fall into place. Drew Sutherland had some nice throws near Pacelli’s net that nearly ended with goals, but things just felt a bit off early for Stratford.

The Eagles did a good job denying the Vikings for almost the entire remainder of the half on the defensive side of things, but things took a brutal turn late in the first half.

The gut punch came with just 17 seconds left before the break, when a good Pacelli kick into the box from the right side skittered across the grass far to the left, allowing Jack Dalelio to get a foot on it sneak the ball past keeper Jude Robinson to give the Vikings a commanding 2-0 lead at halftime.

After coming so close to entering the half only down 1-0 despite not looking themselves, it felt deflating. Stratford players groaned and tossed water bottles to the ground in disgust as they left the pitch for the intermission.

“I mean, honestly I felt like we would’ve been more composed,” Jones said of the surprising first half. “These are high school kids, and we’re having to keep them focused for a month after their regular season has ended. That’s a tough task for any coach, doesn’t matter what sport you’re playing. That’s not an excuse by any stretch of the imagination, we’ve been trying to keep them focused and they have been focused.

“To play three games in a month, it’s hard for any team to get a rhythm going. But that’s not an excuse, Pacelli was in the same boat as us… at the end of the day, they won and we didn’t.”

Whatever rhythm the Eagles lacked in the first half, they found it with booming bravado in the second. With a 2-0 lead, the Vikings did not feel the need to apply offensive pressure and Stratford got better chances.

The best of those chances was the one that ended with a goal off the foot of freshman James Biesterfeld — who snagged his second score of the playoffs after scoring one in the quarterfinals — with about 23 minutes left.

When St. Anne-Pacelli did force its way through Stratford’s midfield line, the Eagles defenders did their jobs. Back liners Adi Patel and George Dunn cut off some slashing Vikings attacks just in the nick of time to keep things at 2-1.

Then there was the final press, the 20-minute stretch at the end of the match that Jones mentioned. The Eagles pounded Pacelli in the final third, getting chance after chance and forcing the Vikings keeper to make a few saves.

The barrage of corner kicks and crossers simply could not be converted, however. The final spree had much of Stratford’s sizable sideline — including reserve players, Jones and even some graduated players from last year’s state championship squad — pacing, shouting and clutching their heads.

The onslaught was not enough, ending the Stratford career of several seniors including key men like Patel, Wes Flournoy, Drew Sutherland, Drew Pavlo and Stebin Horne. Other seniors on the roster included Eli Shaker, Brooks Garner and Malik McTyson.

“Lot of love and respect for those guys. Those guys have stuck with me, we’ve been together for a while now,” Jones said of his seniors, his voice wavering a bit as he got more emotional. “I’ve played soccer with their dads, and that’s a special bond. I just love ‘em. I just love ‘em.”

While that group said their goodbyes, the Eagles have a litany of weapons returning next season. The game’s lone goal-scorer, Biesterfeld, is only a freshman. So is Wes Flournoy’s younger brother, Brady, who scored the semifinal game-winner. Peyton McCallum, a versatile player who sets up plenty of goals for Stratford, is only in ninth grade.

The defense will return plenty of impact players as well: one of its anchors, Dunn, is a sophomore, as is impact player Josh Dreher. Robinson, the rock-solid keeper, is a freshman.

“We’ll regroup, we’ll rebuild. Obviously we graduated a lot in the last two years, something like 17 or 18 players. We’ve got a lot of young talent, they’re hungry, but we’ve got some players who’ve gotta put in some work in the offseason,” Jones said. “Today’s too early to figure out which players will play where and what, but I know which players will be good, and they know.

“We’ll sit down and regroup, and I’m sure we’ll be fine.”