Bishop Kelly Wins A-1 By A Landslide Boys, Girls Win State Soccer Titles Behind Mvp Efforts

For the safety of Bishop Kelly students, it might be time to reinforce the trophy case at the Boise school. Not only will there be the boys and girls State A-1 soccer championship hardware in residence Monday morning; the A-1 boys and girls MVP awards will also call the trophy case home.

The Bishop Kelly girls started off the championship run at noon Saturday at the Lake City soccer fields with a 2-1 victory over Coeur d’Alene High. The boys followed with a 4-1 victory over Idaho Falls. After the boys’ game, Andoni Artiach was awarded the boys MVP and his cousin Maren Zabala earned the same honor for the girls.

Apparently, there is a soccer gene in the family DNA. The cousins were born 12 days apart and grew up in the same neighborhood.

“After growing up playing soccer against him at home, it’s made playing against girls a lot easier,” Zabala said.

In the consolation finals at Lake City High, the Sandpoint girls (17-5-2) beat Boise (15-3-2) 1-0 for third place.

In the boys consolation match, Meridian (12-7-1) managed a 3-2 victory over Sandpoint (2-2).

Bishop Kelly 2, Coeur d’Alene 1

The game developed into a duel between two of the top keepers in the state, Zabala and Rachel StormoGipson.

Zabala stopped CdA early in the first half when she altered a corner kick by jumping out of the goal and eliminating any chance of a header.

StormoGipson answered with 5 minutes left in the half as she dived to her right to block a wide-open shot by the Knights’ Jessica Marlowe.

The Vikings broke through 5 minutes into the second half on a corner kick. Nicolette Richards placed a beautiful pass for Janee Andree that Andree nailed past Zabala.

The Knights’ (12-5-1) Jolie Richter answered 4 minutes later with a header that fell in the goal past the hands of a diving StormoGipson.

“This was the first game this year that we came back and won after being scored against first,” Knights coach John Insinger said.

Richter scored again with 4 minutes left to put the game away.

The Vikings (19-5-1) had won their previous two tournament games by a goal, but couldn’t muster a comeback in the final.

“We played about as well as we could in the first half, but they had a little bit more energy at the end than we did,” CdA coach David Tabakman said.

Coeur d’Alene will be one of next season’s favorites, as it only loses five seniors. However, those seniors were all key players, including co-captain Richards.

“The hardest part about losing this game is that it’s the last time we’ll play together,” Richards said. “I love all my teammates a lot and I’ll miss playing with them.”

Bishop Kelly 4, Idaho Falls 1

The Knights pushed aside expectations and cruised to the title.

“We’ve only lost once in the last 34 games, and winning state has been our goal since Day One,” Bishop Kelly coach Buzz Splittgerber said.

The Knights jumped to a 2-0 lead on goals by Jamin Martin and Andrew Dickson. Idaho Falls pulled within a goal when Cory Kruk blasted a penalty kick into the right side of the net with 5 minutes left in the first half.

Sandpoint 1, Boise 0

The Bulldogs got a goal 8 minutes into the game by Jenny Wells and then let goalkeeper Teshena Taylor take over.

Taylor stopped 15 shots to beat the defending state champions, who were so shocked they didn’t stay for the awards ceremony.

“They underestimated us and Teshena played a great game,” Sandpoint coach Amy Wells said.

The Bulldogs were one of the youngest teams in the tournament with only two seniors.

“We’ve got a lot of talent coming up. and teams better look out for us in the future,” Wells said.

Meridian 3, Sandpoint 2

Despite sitting out four players for most of the first half because of team rules violations, defending state champion Meridian was able to knock off the Bulldogs to win third place.

Sandpoint kept the game tied until Meridian’s Scott Wrightson scored on a penalty kick that was awarded because of a hand-ball call against Sandpoint.

“It was a good game and it’s too bad that a penalty kick had to settle it,” Sandpoint coach Ed Bock said.

The Bulldogs got goals from Jason Campbell and Devon Price.

All-State first team

Boys

Mike Anderson (BK); Andoni Artiach (BK); Bill Hintz (BK); Scott Kempton (Boise); Ty Kovatch (CDA); David Claunch (Highland); Tony King (IF); Cory Kruk (IF); Jason Lang (Meridian); Scott Wrightson (Meridian); Tyler Baker (Pocatello); Shane Thoreson (Sandpoint); Jason Campbell (Sandpoint).

Girls

Maren Zabala (BK); Danielle Weissbeck (BK); Kristi Hild (BK); Chavon Weimer (Boise); Kaziah Hill (Boise), Kerie Baker (Borah); Janee Andree (CDA); Casey Joyner (CDA); Rachel StormoGipson (CDA); Korbie Underwood (Highland); Elisa Scherb (Sandpoint); Melissa Kingsland (Sandpoint).

xxxx