MACON – From the first day of school, the goal was simple for the Riverwood Raiders – win a state championship.
Mission accomplished.
Riverwood's Kai Bennett and Francisco Hernandez had goals, and the Raiders recorded their 11th shutout of the season with a 2-0 win over Northgate in the Class AAAAA boys state championship game at Mercer University's Anderson Field.
It’s the second state championship for the Riverwood program and first since 2002. And they did it style.
“We’re going to take the trophy back to Riverwood and celebrate the rest of the year,” Raiders second-year coach Jeff Welp said.
Bennett’s goal came off a beautiful assist from Hernandez five minutes into the first half. The Raiders threatened repeatedly, but couldn’t come up with an insurance goal into deep into the second half.
Northgate keeper Cooper Morrison’s diving save on a penalty kick by Eric Cruz kept the Vikings in the game. But less than a minute after Morrison denied Crews, the speedy Raiders were back on the attack, with Hernandez flying down the left side and chipping the ball over the charging keeper for a 2-0 lead with 13:22 in the match.
Northgate had a couple of opportunities, including off of a second-half corner kick that was deflected across the Raiders’ goal, but no one was there for the Vikings to capitalize.
The Raiders lost in the state semifinals on penalty kicks last season. They came back motivated, ended three-time defending state champion Dalton’s streak of 80 matches without a loss during the regular season and then capped it off with sterling performance Saturday night.
“It’s outstanding,” Welp said.
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