A pair of champions

Thursday, November 10, 2011

Joe Marchilena photo Wilton-Lyndeborough players and fans celebrate after Adam Edmunds scored the game-winning goal with under two minutes to play in Sunday's Division IV boys soccer final. The Warriors defeated Sunapee 2-1 to win their second-straight title.

Enlarge

Joe Marchilena photo Wilton-Lyndeborough coach Steve Martus gets a shower after the Warriors defeated Sunapee 2-1 Sunday in the Division IV boys soccer final.

Enlarge

Joe Marchilena photo Wilton-Lyndeborough's Adam Edmunds, back, celebrates his game-winning goal while Sunapee's Brandon Fleming, left, helps up goalie TJ Wacholtz.

Enlarge

Joe Marchilena photo Wilton-Lyndeborough's Marshal Davidson watches as his shot goes into the net during the first half of Sunday's Division IV boys soccer final.

Enlarge

Joe Marchilena photo Marshal Davidson celebrates after the Wilton-Lyndeborough boys soccer team defeated Sunapee 2-1 Sunday to win the Division IV title.

Enlarge

Joe Marchilena photo Wilton-Lyndeborough's Adam Edmunds is defended by Sunapee's Casey Hargbol, center, and Rob Strachan during Sunday's Division IV boys soccer final.

Enlarge

Joe Marchilena photo Wilton-Lyndeborough players and fans celebrate after Adam Edmunds scored the game-winning goal with under two minutes to play in Sunday's Division IV boys soccer final. The Warriors defeated Sunapee 2-1 to win their second-straight title.

Enlarge

MANCHESTER – This sequel was every bit as good as the first.

A year ago, the Wilton-Lyndeborough High School boys soccer team won the school’s first boys championship in any sport since the Kennedy administration.

This year, the Warriors needed more late-game heroics from Adam Edmunds to win their second straight Division IV championship, beating Sunapee 2-1 in the final Sunday at Southern New Hampshire University.

Edmunds scored in the 79th minute to break a 1-1 tie, one game after his overtime goal got W-L back into the final, and the senior assisted on Marshal Davidson’s goal in the first half as the Warriors won the third title in program history, the first of which came in 1962.

“It’s the most amazing thing I’ve ever done in my entire life, as of now,” Edmunds said.

“This feels great to be a part of two championships for the school,” Davidson added. “It’s never happened before. To be a part of these two championships, and to score a goal in this one, in my last game ever, it just feels so great.”

Troy Fowler scored the lone Sunapee goal, tying the game at 1 in the 50th minute. That’s where the score stayed despite a handful of opportunities for both sides, many of which ended when the attacking team seemed to run out of gas.

“We kept on saying push forward, but on this big field, everyone got tired early for both teams,” W-L coach Steve Martus said. “They weren’t really pressing us on defense, they were pressuring us at midfield, which was making Marshal and Steven (Taliadoros) have to do more running. That’s why we were so tired.”

The Warriors found a little burst of energy at just the right time.

With under two minutes to play, Mark Davidson booted a ball from near midfield toward the Sunapee goal. Edmunds gave chase, with two defenders on him, as Sunapee goalie TJ Walcholtz came out after the ball.

At the last second, Edmunds got ahead of the defenders, using his head to pop the ball over Walcholtz. He watched as his shot slowly bounced into the open net for the winner.

“It took one bounce and went so high,” Edmunds said of Mark Davidson’s kick. “I was looking at the ball, and my guy was on my right, and the goalie was rushing at it. I could see his yellow jersey getting closer. I knew I wasn’t going to get it on my foot, so I had to head it over him and hopefully it would continue in.”

Sunapee entered the game with a plan of shutting down Edmunds, and for the most part, the Lakers were successful.

The senior had less room to maneuver, but still found a way to get his opportunities.

“There is something about Adam,” Martus said. “We saw in one of the papers that (Sunapee) said they had a plan and they knew what we were going to do. We knew they were going to put a bunch of guys on Adam, but he is just ruthless. He has the speed and the know-how and he doesn’t give up.”

In the first half, Edmunds was able to set up Marshal Davidson’s goal by taking the ball deep into the right corner before sending a rocket toward the net. Walcholtz got a piece of the ball before Davidson was able to knock it in for a 1-0 lead less than 10 minutes into the game.

“I was screaming my head off because I was wide-open in the middle,” Davidson said. “(Edmunds) put a perfect ball right across. (Walcholtz) is a great goalie, but he just made a little bobble and couldn’t cover it up and I was able to put it in the back of the net. I hit it once and it bounced off a defender who was standing near the goal and I just followed it up and hit it again.”

The championship is the fourth for the senior class, going back to middle school. That group – Edmunds, Marshal Davidson, Willie Tremblay, Stephan Taliadoros, Cameron Holt, Kyle Jennings and Zach Hagen – made it to the quarterfinals as freshmen and the semifinals as sophomores while compiling an overall record of 81-11-4.

“We will have a big rebuilding year next year, but we always want to be here,” Martus said. “It still doesn’t feel real. It’s going to take a couple of days to realize it happened.”