St. Anthony Sees Tremendous Season Come to an End

The St. Anthony Bulldogs saw their tremendous season come to an end Friday night, losing the championship game of the Altamont Class 1A Soccer Sectional to Beardstown, 2-1 in overtime.

The two teams battled through regulation play tied at 1-1 with James Kabbes scoring the lone goal for the Bulldogs. Beardstown got a second goal in the extra period to secure the win.

Nick Grunloh had 10 saves in goal for St. Anthony.

"We had a strong season, but when it comes to postseason, everything starts all over again. We made it all the way to the Sweet 16 match which many know as the sectional championship, looking to advance to the Elite Eight and be the only team to advance to this unknown territory.

"Coming into the game we had watched Beardstown play Hillsboro for about 25 minutes and many of the guys knew that the next task at hand wasn't going to be easy at all. Game day and the boys were super pumped on the bus. We had talked previously about how we made it this far, why stop now. We had to come ready for the unexpected, because we knew they would bring it to us right away. We went over in practice and before the game some key words to remember in Spanish, because Beardstown is 80% Spanish speaking and I told them, that it would help them understand the flow of the game a lot better if they knew what was being said throughout the game and it helped a lot. Much of the game the Tigers were screaming orders at each other in Spanish, trying to progress the ball forward, but understanding them helped us prevent some of that play, and they weren't expecting that from us at all.

"We also came out super strong and aggressive, winning every possession on the ball for the first 20 minutes, stumping the Tigers who couldn't even get a play on the ball. We had a few looks right away to start the game, while the Tigers spent the first 10-15 minutes adjusting to our play. When the Tigers got on board, the game became a real treat. Both teams went back and forth at each other, over and over each putting close shots that nearly missed, both keepers were very tough.

"Finally with only 11 minutes left in the first half, a ball broke loose coming out of the box. James Kabbes was able to track it down and strike it on the volley, zipping it right past everyone including the keeper to put us up 1-0 right before half. During halftime, I told the boys they needed to be ready for the onslaught that they were about to recieve in the second half. The Tigers definitely came out strong and hard, with just minutes into the second half they had a breakaway with a one-and-one with the keeper and Nick Grunloh was able to come slidding out and save the shot with his foot.

"Later on in the half, the Tigers had a corner kick that Grunloh came out and into the air to retrieve and jumped too early and the ball went over Nick for another free Tigers' shot on an open goal, out of nowhere Jack Nuxoll appeared to poke the ball right out of the goal. We managed to get a couple shots, but couldn't connect either. Game ends in a tie and we go into overtime

"The first overtime saw the ball in the middle a lot. Both teams played very aggressive, but still the score remained at 1-1. In the second overtime, both teams seemed really exhausted, but we wouldn't go away, with a throw in for James, he whips the ball into the goal area with only 15 seconds left in the game. The ball goes into the goal, but the ref calls it off, stating the ball never touched an active player before entering the goal. The game remained tied at 1-1 and went into a penalty kick shootout, where the Tigers put one more goal in than the Bulldogs taking the sectional championship 2-1 our state run.

"It was a great game. I couldn't have asked for a better game. Our team came to play tonight and I don't think the Tigers were ready for what we had in store. We talked about how we didn't play our best game against Pleasant Plains, which was the game Beardstown watched. So we knew coming in, being the underdogs, that we needed to come hard and strike first, so that we could make a game of this match. We also knew we needed to take Murphy Dometien out of the equation, since he was 90 percent of thier scoring. We did everything we planned and executed every play and option we needed to. We couldn't have ended the season in a better fashion. The team did an amazing job, worked hard all season for this and they totally deserve all that they achieved.

"To the St. Anthony varsity Bulldogs congratulations on your sucess, I am very proud of you. You are champions in my eyes and in many others as well. It's hard to see the seniors not get as far as we knew we could have. They will be missed and they were the biggest part of the leadership of this team going forward this year. I could say so much about each and every senior, but the most important thing is thank you Ashley Dietzen, Kyle Hartke, James Kabbes, Chandler Martelli, Ian Harris, Nick Grunloh and Alex Bloemer for making this season the most memorable. This team will forever go down in history for all the records that were broken at St. Anthony. Good Luck to all my seniors in all you do, you'll forever be missed, and you will forever hold a big place in my heart and memories.

Coach Eric Morales' Bulldogs finish the best soccer season in St. Anthony history with a 21-3-2 record.