Orangewood Christian's bid for back-to-back 1A State Championships ended with a loss in penalty kicks, as Scheck Hillel captured their first-ever state championship. The Lions converted five of six penalty kicks, while senior goalkeeper Alan Landau stopped two Rams shots to clinch the victory.
For the first 70 minutes, the Rams seemed to be on the brink of breaking through against a stout Lions defense, with multiple scoring chances coming from star forwards Chase Gwynn and John Lowrey. The duo combined for 49 goals this season but just couldn't get one past Landau in 100 minutes of play. Scheck Hillel (18-0-1) finally gained momentum in the last ten minutes of regulation, testing OCS junior goalkeeper Chase Honerbrink, as 38-goal scorer Netty Silberman finally got a few free looks.
But for the second straight night, Orangewood Christian (20-1-3) would go to penalty kicks. After taking down Holy Trinity 3-1 in penalty kicks in the 1A Semifinals behind three Honerbrink saves, Scheck Hillel proved more difficult to stop, with Silberman, Yomtov Bejar, Moises Bendahan, Landau and Salomon Lapco all converting. For Orangewood Christian, A.J. Moulton, Gwynn, Alec Cross and Paul Diaz were successful on their penalty kicks, but Landau came up with one final save to secure the championship.
Of the three matches in the 1A Final Four, all three went to at least overtime, with two of the games extending through 100 minutes into penalty kicks.
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