SPOTSYLVANIA — Rival fans attending the Class 4 boys soccer state championship game Saturday phrased the question of “Who’s No. 1?” to fit their school names.
“Whose field? Smithfield!,” the fans of the 2021 state champion Packers chanted to the Jamestown supporters. The Jamestown contingent replied en masse, “Whose town? Jamestown!.”
For now, the Jamestown faithful own bragging rights. The Eagles captured their first state title since 2015, and fifth overall, with a 1-0 win over the Packers on Saturday at Spotsylvania High. Freshman James Snead scored the only goal the Eagles needed on a rebound shot from 18 yards with 19 minutes, 1 second remaining.
The Eagles (21-4) required only the one goal thanks in no small measure to a terrific performance in goal by junior Caleb Nixon. He made several clutch and difficult saves to blunt a Smithfield onslaught that lasted from the middle of the first half to the middle of the second.
That combined to give Phil Geyer, who won a state championship as a Jamestown player in 2012, his first state title in three seasons as the Eagles’ coach. It’s the program’s fifth in the past 22 years.
“It’s way more nerve-racking on the sideline, I can tell you that,” Geyer said. “On the field, you’re so focused on what you’re doing, but on the sideline you’re constantly looking up at the clock.
“It’s amazing. I’m just so happy for the seniors. Every one of them, when I started, told me this is what they wanted to do.”
While the huge senior class has been the backbone of the team, sophomore Max Cooper, who entered the game with 44 goals, has been the star.
It appeared at the start things would be no different on Saturday as the Eagles controlled the run of play in the first 20 minutes. Cooper had a near-miss on one shot and gifted Stefan Williams with a nice cross on a shot he missed into the side-netting by a foot or two.
But, as Packers coach Jason Henderson said afterward, his players started slowly because they played to a penalty shootout Friday in winning their semifinal. Once the Muepu brothers, midfielder Andy and forward Onesime, got into rhythm, they spearheaded a lengthy assault on the Eagles’ goal.
Unfortunately for the Packers (16-7-1), Nixon was at his best. He made the first of four very good saves by tipping Logan Young’s blast from about 25 yards just over the crossbar with 13 minutes to play in the first half.
Nixon had two more good saves before halftime, then made the save of the game early in the second half on a hard shot by Onesime Muepu from inside 10 yards. Muepu created the one-on-one by flicking the ball to his right to beat a defender.
“One is a phenomenal player,” Nixon said. “I know he absolutely loves to get the ball down the line, he’s very speedy and technical, so my first reaction was just to get in front of the ball.
“I’m grateful I got a solid touch on it and it went out of bounds.”
The Eagles regained competitiveness in the midfield shortly thereafter and broke through at the midpoint of the second half after Camden Anderson-Tayman launched a shot on goal. The Packers’ Tanner Clifton headed it out, but Snead gathered it at the top of the box and rocketed it into the goal.
“We worked so hard for that goal the whole time and it finally came in,” Snead said. “It meant everything to me.
“I love this team so much and my brother (William Snead) is on it. It’s unreal.”
And unusual because, for a rare game, Cooper did not score a goal. That didn’t bother him at all.
“This was a team effort today, not an individual thing,” he said. “That’s OK because we won and now we’ve really cemented our legacy here.”
Whose town? Jamestown!
