Fairlea – Prior to Thursday’s sectional championship the last two times Beckley and Greenbrier East met on the pitch the difference between the two teams could only be measured by a thread.
The Flying Eagles took last year’s sectional tournament game between the two teams in a shootout and the two teams tied 3-3 earlier this season in Beckley.
Thursday’s match was yet another classic installation in the storied rivalry.
Tied 1-1 after regulation and two overtime periods in Fairlea, the game went to a shootout for the second straight year with the Flying Eagles winning 3-1 on shots by Jack Grimmett, Nick Van Scio and Carson Eckley.
“It’s two really phenomenal programs,” Beckley head coach Steve Laraba said. “Lucas (Lemine) has done a phenomenal job with building East to where they are now and they’re to be commended. Some of these games just come down to heart and guts and drive, and I’m not saying East didn’t have any of that, just that that’s what these things come down to. I thought the first half was pretty even. The second half, we knew the wind would be an issue and it was tough on that. It’s like they turned on the wind machine in the overtimes, but the guys didn’t give up.”
Giving up would’ve been the easy thing considering the situation the Flying Eagles were in with under three minutes to play.
After a header in the box by East’s Evan Vogelsong in the 69th minute and Beckley struggling to to score the book appeared to be closed on the visitor’s season.
Jack Grimmett had other ideas.
The junior, who scored twice against East in the regular season, found the ball deep in the box during a scramble and scored a goal late in the 77th minute to knot the contest up and give his team a fighting chance.
“I don’t know what it is but he’s really good against East,” Laraba said. “He’s really good isn’t he? Two goals in the regular season, he gets the equalizer here and a goal in the shootout. Jack’s got the heart of a lion. He doesn’t stop and he goes as hard as he can. He didn’t stop and he made sure that ball crossed the line.”
With both teams unable to score in sudden-death overtime, the game went to a shootout with Beckley applying pressure early. On the second round of kicks Grimmett again gave his team the advantage but a stop by East keeper Joe Cochran followed by a kick by Matt Cook knotted the shootout.
Von Scio changed that quickly with his own goal and East failed to answer.
Part of the reason for that was Laraba’s call to put Evan Laraba in the net as the keeper, a decision he made last year that paid the same dividends.
“Evan is a very good center back for us and he enjoys playing that position,” Coach Laraba said. “I thought he made some really good tackles and interceptions within the game, but he is also a top tier goalkeeper and he’s excellent at penalties. He can read them well, he can react well and he’s got the frame for it. He can cover a lot of space so we definitely knew that if we went to kicks he was going to the goal and Josh Farnsworth has no problem with that.”
On Beckley’ fifth attempt, leading 2-1 in the best-of-five shootout, Carson Eckley stepped to the line and calmly fired a shot that rattled in, leading the senior forward to rip off his jersey and bolt to the Beckley cheering section in celebration of the win.
The loss ends a solid campaign for the Spartans, who finish the year 12-5-2.
“Every second I’ve had with these kids has been special,” an emotional Lucas Lemine, the East head coach, said. “I wouldn’t want to coach anywhere else or have any other kids. Every second is special whether we win or we lose. It’s all a learning experience for these guys and for me. I’m just happy that I get to spend time with them.”
Beckley advances to next week’s Region 3 championship where it will play the winner of Friday’s Section 1 championship between George Washington-Capital with a state tournament berth on the line.
