By Wes Kerr
LowcoSports.com
COLUMBIA – As the final whistle blew under the Columbia night sky, Beaufort head coach Terry Rawlins watched a battered group of Eagles walk off the field for the final time. After a four-year odyssey to the biggest stage, his resilient team had given him all they had left.
Despite an inspiring effort in their first trip to the SCHSL 3A boys soccer state title game, the Eagles fell to Daniel, 3-0, at Irmo High School on Saturday, marking the second consecutive state championship for the Lions.
But for Rawlins, it was the proud culmination of a successful spring.
“This was a journey,” Rawlins said. “We had to get the guys believing that we could actually do this. Playing a certain way. Getting into the system. Understanding how the game was supposed to be played. Once they started buying into that, the journey began.”
And it took them all the way to the final day of the season.
But on Saturday night, they ran into a team that was polished, talented, and experienced from top to bottom. From opening kickoff, it was the Lions who were quickest to the loose balls while adding a strong brand of physicality.
The start is critical in any championship match, and the Lions pounced on a Beaufort squad trying to feel itself out in its title bout debut. And just 10 minutes into the match, the Lions scored the first goal.
After maintaining much of the possession at the start, Luka Gasic capitalized with a well placed strike inside the far post. The towels were waving on one side, and the Eagles were left with questions on the other.
Beaufort made its mark this season by tough, hard, defense and well designed counterattacking, but Daniel’s strong systematic play and superior athleticism shut down the Eagle forwards in the opening half. Despite some sensational stops from senior goalkeeper Nigel Bell, the Lions continued their strong pressure and added to the lead.
With another ball loose in the box, dynamic striker Eddie Merck drove it home and ignited his crowd again. The wheels were coming off quickly for the Eagles. Then it was Merck who struck again for a 3-0 lead, this time on a beautiful back-door feed to Kenneth Walton-Flores, who slid it past a helpless Bell.
The halftime whistle sounded without a clear shot on goal from the Eagles. Beaufort had always seemed to find a way back this spring when it was slipping away, but this task felt next-to-improbable.
“We got caught flat-footed, and then we tried to play catch-up,” Rawlins said. “We know in soccer that it can be a hard thing to do. And then they parked the bus.”
A re-energized Eagles squad came out to begin the second half, but the Lions were able to sit back and stymie any attack that came their way through relentless hustle and pursuit of the ball. The crosses and passes needed to be perfect for Beaufort to claw their way back, and a couple chances in the second 40 minutes just missed that mark.
Sam Trask, Jack Troutman and this Eagles squad made the Daniel Lions earn what would be a full-postseason clean sheet. But after a Trask miss blazed just over the crossbar and another golden look right at the end of stoppage time, the referee pulled the curtain and crowned the Lions back-to-back state champions.
The Eagles may have walked off with the somber mood on Saturday night, but they proved they belonged.
Nigel Bell was magnificent in his final action for the Eagles, using his acrobatic athleticism to deny quality Lions looks at net all night. He finished with a whopping 13 saves to cap off a dominant season between the pipes.
With the state runner-up trophy in his hand, Rawlins sat down on the bench alone and was overcome by emotion. The four-year journey with his seniors had come to an end, but the memories made at every step will last a lifetime.
“This group of seniors, I’ll remember them as fighters,” Rawlins said. “They were the ones on the field doing everything that needs to be done to make the Beaufort Eagles fly high.”
Wes Kerr is a graduate of Hilton Head Island High School and Davidson College. He reports on local sports for LowcoSports.com.
