It was a spur of the moment reaction. A split second after heading home Tony Riso?s corner kick with 4:38 left in overtime, Jake Pace ripped off his blue River Hill jerseyand made a mad dash towards the bundled-up Hawks? fans, his arms flailing around in the 40-degree breeze.
Pace?s goal gave the Hawks a 3-2 win over Loch Raven in the 2A state championship Saturday at South River. It was River Hill?s eighth state title.
“Its just complete adrenaline,” Pace said of his celebration. “After you score that goal, state finals, double over time, its complete adrenaline, everyone is rushing you. It was the first thing that came to mind, it was a spur of the moment kind of thing.”
It didn?t have to be. The Hawks seemingly had the game won in the first half.
But after John Talbot and Eric Cates scored on River Hill?s only two first-half chances, Loch Raven battled back with two second-half goals.
Senior defender Steve Ehatt, who played much of the game on offense after the Raiders fell behind, settled the ball and scored from short range just 7:45 into the second half. A minute later, he hit the crossbar on a solid strike.
The complexity of the game changed, though, when senior midfielder Eric Woods converted a penalty kick with 11:11 into the half to tie the game.
“I couldn?t see what happened, but everything changed and we got down on ourselves,” Pace said. “We had to regroup in the second half. We played a lot harder, and going through the second half and into overtime, we knew we were going to come out there and get it.”
Pace, the Hawks? junior midfielder, was the one to do it, scoring his ninth goal of the season and worrying Howard County?s soccer moms with his shirtless spring.
“Big players show up at the right times and in the right spot,” second-year coach Matt Shagogue said. “We practice those corners all the time, and if there?s one person to mark, its him. I?m sure he was marked, but he just got free.”
