State soccer: St. George’s boys vie for third consecutive championship

Reloading isn’t just for big schools anymore.

At tiny St. George’s, the Dragons and boys soccer coach Heidi Melville are chasing a third consecutive State 2B/1B title.

The first one was easy, as the Dragons went 18-3 and rolled to the 2015 championship with a mostly senior lineup.

Last year, Melville fretted – but only briefly – as new players stepped up to win a second championship.

Now St. George’s is back again, ready to make some history by becoming the first 2B/1B school to win it all three straight years. The Dragons (14-1-1) will face familiar rival Prescott at 6 p.m. Friday at Sunset Chev Stadium in Sumner, Washington.

The winner will play Crosspoint or Orcas Island in the title match Saturday night.

“It’s one of those things you hope for,” said Melville, a former collegiate player at Montana who took over the St. George’s program from Cam Preston in 2011.

“We really are just taking them one game at a time,” Melville said.

It helps that the Dragons have scheduled ambitiously, mostly against bigger Idaho schools. St. George’s twice beat St. Maries by 2-1 scores and edged Lewiston by the same margin.

Their only loss was a 5-1 setback to Post Falls, which later played for the Idaho big-school title.

With eight seniors, two juniors and a host of sophomores, the Dragons have won eight straight.

Since his sophomore year, the catalyst has been senior midfielder Mitchell Ward, who was the state player of the year as a junior. With 32 goals and eight assists this year, he should repeat.

“He’s very passionate, in a goofy kind of way, but he leads in a way that lifts everybody up with him,” Melville said of Ward, who’s been on the squad since his freshman year.

Ward is finishing with a flourish. On Nov. 3 against Trout Lake/Glenwood, he scored late in regulation and again in overtime for a 3-2 playoff game. Last week, Ward scored all the Dragons’ goals in a 4-0 quarterfinal win over Life Christian.

Another senior captain, Noah Halliburton-Link, was an all-state goalkeeper as a sophomore. Moved to the field last year, he suffered a knee injury, but has been “rock-solid” this season, Melville said.

The third senior captain, defender Connor Cremers, is “probably the hardest-working player on my team,” Melville said. “He is fast, savvy and a great leader on our back line.”

The other seniors include Adit Arora, Ryan Hayes, Cade Peplinski, Brandon Plumbo, Zach Steele and Hunter Nolte.

Meanwhile, the St. George’s girls are a chasing a second consecutive title in only the fourth year of the program.

The Dragons (10-4-1) face Brewster in a semifinal at 2 p.m. Friday, also in Sumner.

St. George’s is in the Final Four thanks to a goal from Cambrie Rickard to beat Liberty Bell 1-0 in a quarterfinal match last weekend.