History was made lat night The Caddo Magnet Mustangs won the State Championship in Soccer. Being the first North Louisiana team to win any any sort of High School Championship in Soccer in a very long time. I decided to go to the game and it was pretty fun. They beat Baton Rouge Woodlawn 2 to 1
Scott Ferrell: A title of validation for Caddo Magnet-
A beagle wins the Westminster dog show. A Shreveport team wins a state soccer championship. What's next, the Saints winning the Super Bowl?Check that, it only took 12 years for a Shreveport team to win a state soccer championship.
Caddo Magnet did the honors on Saturday night, defeating Baton Rouge Woodlawn 2-1 at Independence Stadium before a crowd of 2,313.The Mustangs' championship was as much about validation as it was coronation.After Caddo Magnet won the St. Paul's tournament during the holidays, the Mustangs ascended to No. 1 in the state polls.
This was not surprising to Magnet coach Radi Baltov."Our coach (Baltov) told us we were going to win state the first day of practice," Magnet goalkeeper Chris Hilario said. "Some of us were kind of skeptical of it. After we won that St. Paul's tournament, we realized we mean business. When we got ranked No. 1 in the state, it was one of the greatest feelings in the world.
But this, by far, is the greatest feeling in the world."Some folks in south Louisiana were unimpressed with Magnet's No. 1 ranking back in January.Caddo, as some down south on the Internet message boards like to call the school, still hadn't won anything. And they were, after all, from northwest Louisiana and there was that little 12-year drought.Dismissing the Mustangs, though, only fueled their fire.
"We were the No. 1 team in the state and some people just thought it was crazy," Hilario said. "This trophy, us winning this game today, proved everyone wrong who thought that. We are the best team in the state."Even as recently as a couple of weeks ago, some New Orleans media types remained skeptical.
No one was No. 1 until Jesuit went down, they said.A funny thing happened last week, Jesuit went down. Woodlawn took down the defending state champion.So on Saturday night, playing in the familiar surroundings of Independence Stadium, Magnet went about the process of proving for one final time the Mustangs' are the state's best soccer team this year.They led 1-0 at halftime on the strength of Adam West's goal.
They stretched the lead to 2-0 on Alex Blandin's goal and then held on after Marcus Dyer scored the only opponents' goal against Magnet in the playoffs.The Mustangs had made believers out of Carencro on the same field earlier this month. They made believers out of Woodlawn on Saturday.There on the artificial surface stood a proud Caddo Magnet alum, Shreveport Mayor Cedric Glover, presenting the state championship trophy to the Mustangs
.A dozen years' drought for Shreveport soccer is over. And this state championship was no fluke. This was the result of a program coach Radi Baltov has built over the last three years."We deserve respect," Baltov said, "That was one of our missions. I think we succeeded
Other articles
Caddo Magnet wins soccer title(Front page article)
A historic title for Magnet
Caddo Magnet vs Woodlawn (BR)(98 pics)
In Girl's Soccer News see
Saint Thomas More claims girls Division I soccer title
Other State Soccer Photo action from the last Few days and weeks
St. Thomas More vs Barbe
Girls Soccer St. Louis vs. Sacred Heart
Boys Soccer Newman vs. St. Thomas Aquinas
Caddo Magnet vs. Carencro Boys Soccer
Byrd vs. New Iberia Girls Soccer
Caddo Magnet vs. Woodlawn Girls Soccer
Parkway vs St. Frederick Soccer
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