Andrews Osborne Academy boys soccer finishes its story with win over Worthington Christian in Division III state championship game
COLUMBUS, Ohio - Andrews Osborne Academy finished the story on Saturday with a 2-1 win over Worthington Christian to capture its first boys soccer state championship at Historic Crew Stadium in the Division III state title game.
Andrews Osborne is in just its third year of existence as a school and soccer program and there are 12 different countries represented on its roster, which made the beginning of the season interesting.
"This is all great but you can imagine those first days with 12 countries coming together," Andrews Osborne coach Drago Dumbovic said with a chuckle. "But look at today. The whole idea was literally for us to put together like a brotherhood. I think that was the most important part."
The team gelled quickly as the season progressed and finished off with a record of 18-0-1 after Saturday's win.
After a scoreless first half, Andrews Osborne's Inaki Pinto made a run and went bottom left from the top of the box and pushed the ball past Worthington Christian goalkeeper Ryan Miller in the 43rd minute.
And then in the 55th minute, Enrique Benito Sierra scored off a corner kick to make it 2-0.
Worthington Christian got on the board in the 66th minute when Sammy Sarfo got the ball to Ben Jende right in front of the net and the senior put it past Andrews Osborne goalkeeper Hugo Ricondo Caballero.
Worthington Christian kept pressing in the final minutes to try to get a goal and spent a good amount of time in the attacking zone, putting pressure on Ricondo Caballero.
"I was hoping for the whistle," Ricondo Caballero said of the last minutes. "They were all the time in our box, having an opportunity. It was difficult, but we played really good defense and we were able to solve it."
One of the best chances Worthington Christian had came with 3:05 left in the game when Caleb Van Dop took aim and beat Ricondo Caballero but the ball caromed off the post.
"Thank God, that's all (I was thinking)," Ricondo Caballero said.
While some of the players have been on the team for two or three seasons, Ricondo Caballero is in his first season with the Phoenix and didn't know he would be at Andrews Osborne until just a few months ago.
"I didn't know that I was coming to the United States," Ricondo Caballero said. "I thought I was gonna study in Spain and play there. And this opportunity, I was a little bit scared to take it, but I say it's gonna be worth it."
The game was played at a frenetic pace at times, with the teams combining for 45 shots.
"I have to say, what a team we played, they were excellent," Dumbovic said. "They was so hard to break. It was such a beautiful championship game. Everything about this game that should be, it was."
The day began in Willoughby for the Phoenix, who were met with a surprise as they headed to the team bus.
"The whole day was extremely special," Dumbovic said. "We are just about to start getting on the bus, and guess what? Police and fire trucks in front of us stopped the whole city to get us through."
After being excited on the more than two-hour trip, the players were able to focus and prepare for the game once they arrived at the stadium.
"Our responsibility is to calm them down because it was so exciting," Dumbovic said. "The locker room for the first time I walked in and it was so intense. Everybody was so focused."
That focus and intensity led to a history writing lesson.
"Everybody knows this is the last page of our book," Dumbovic said. "We said we're going to write the book and every game we played it was one page and today was the last page of our journey. And we are the ones who gonna write that page and nobody else."
-- Ryan Isley | ryan@scorebooklive.com | @sbliveoh
