BLUE SPRINGS • For the second time in six years, the Priory soccer team has made state history.
On the strength of a pair of first-half goals, the Rebels completed the second perfect season in MSHSAA boys soccer history with a 2-0 win against Trinity in the Class 2 championship game at Blue Springs South.
The win gives Priory a perfect 27-0 record. The 2005 Rebels went 26-0.
"I always tried to tell the kids don't put too much emphasis on it, but it's a really, really hard thing to do," Priory coach John Mohrmann said. "As we got closer to the end, the pressure started to build. But this team came out so focused every single game."
Trinity (21-7) had a 14-game winning streak snapped and finishes as runner-up for the fourth time (2003, 2005, 2008).
"They were the best team we played all season. They deserved to be where they are," Titans coach Vince Drake said of Priory. "My kids gave it everything they had. We won 21 games, and we got to the final."
Trinity had the game's first good scoring chance in just the third minute, as leading scorer Aaron Jezik had an open shot inside the box, but his left-footer was high.
"Had he scored, it changes the whole complexion of the game, I would have thought," Drake said. "From then on, it was all them."
Priory scored a minute and a half after Trinity's missed opportunity. Jeffrey Hopson took a pass in the box from Kyle Martin and re-directed it past Titans goalkeeper Jeremiah Cooper for a 1-0 lead.
"Kyle played in a great ball. I came near-post, saw it come and tried to get something on it," Hopson said. "It was the best feeling I ever had, and it lifted the team for the rest of the game."
Priory made it 2-0 with exactly 10 minutes left in the first half when Hopson gave a nice pass to Peter Reitz, who blasted it in.
"I saw Jeff on the left side of the field, so I started running down the field and there was no one on me," Reitz said. "I didn't think it was going in, but it went in."
The margin of victory could have been more if not for four great saves by Cooper in the second half.
The first came about 12 minutes in when the junior keeper stretched far to his left to make a diving save on Reitz's bid for his second goal. Then with 14:40 to go, Paul Schulz dribbled in all alone, but Cooper came sliding out to take it off his foot.
The third one came with 11:05 left when Cooper dove right to tip Hopson's bid for a second goal. And the final save was another beauty, as Cooper skied high to punch out a long shot by Kyle Collins.
"He was absolutely fantastic," Mohrmann said of Cooper. "I went to find him right after the game and congratulated him. He made every kind of save, and it really kept the game close."
