The Champs are here!
Warhorses seize first state title in shootout with Dark Horses
Fred McCormick
The Valley Echo
November 19, 2022
Well before the Owen Warhorses took the field in MacPherson Stadium to face the Clinton Dark Horses in the 2022 NCHSAA 2A State Soccer Championship, Nov. 18, head coach Trei Morrison knew who would take the last shot if penalty kicks were needed to decide the outcome.
After 110 minutes of play, locked in a 1-1 tie, midfielder Harrison Kendall proved more than capable of handling the assignment, as he found the back of the net to clinch the first state soccer title in Owen history.
The moment was huge, but the senior didn’t flinch.
“I had faith in God that it was going in, and I gave the keeper a little smirk,” an emotional Kendall said on the field after the match. “I just tried to be as confident as possible, took one breath and it went in.”
The feeling was “indescribable,” he added.
“This is what we’ve worked for so hard for the last four years,” Kendall continued. “It’s absolutely amazing.”
Nearby, the midfielder’s little brother Davis was preparing to receive the Most Valuable Player Award. The sophomore striker, who netted his 50th goal of the campaign, scored the lone Owen goal in the 77th minute of regulation to tie the contest, 1-1. That score held through four overtime periods, forcing a penalty shootout.
Harrison’s goal was the winner, but senior goalkeeper Nolan Swoap set it up with a diving stop to his left on Clinton’s fifth attempt to lock the tally at 3-3. Swoap finished the the contest saving six of the Dark Horses’ seven shots on goal.
While the match was tightly contested throughout, with the Warhorses possessing the ball much of the time against a stingy Clinton defense, Morrison was confident in his team’s ability to close it out.
“I knew we had the players to do it, and I have confidence in all of them,” he said. But as he considered the order for a potential shootout earlier in the day, he had a particularly strong sense of trust in one.
“The five-spot is where you put your go-to guy,” Morrison said. “A lot of people would think that’s Davis, but I knew he could start us off with a quick goal. I told Harrison before we got on the bus that he was going to do big things tonight, and that he would be the guy that brought this home. As soon as Nolan made that save, I knew Harry was going to bury it.”
A sizeable and lively crowd of drum-beating and cowbell-ringing Owen fans made the nearly 200-mile trip to cheer on the Warhorses. Among them was David Fiest, who coached the team for a decade before stepping down two games into the season to pursue a career change.
Morrison, who coached the former Owen coach as a college soccer play at Mars Hill University, embraced his predecessor after the win.
“Our relationship goes way back,” Morrison said of Fiest. “One of my favorite sayings is, ‘standing on the shoulders of giants.’ (Fiest) and Tate MacQueen are the giants whose shoulders I stand on.”
Fiest, who led the Warhorses to the postseason nearly every season during his career, was “at a loss for words” over the state championship victory.
“It’s surreal, it’s emotional and it’s really a dream come true,” he said. “To see a group of boys you’ve been working with so long finally get the thing they’ve worked so hard for is truly amazing.”
Morrison credited his team’s success this season to a tremendous work ethic driven by an insatiable desire to improve.
“Their character and belief in themselves is a big part of it, but their willingness to work so hard is what got them here,” he said of the roster that features 11 seniors. “I push them really hard, and it would’ve been easy for them to say it was too much, but none of them did. They all felt like if this was what they had to do to get here, then that’s what they would do.”
That collective commitment to win a state title is what makes this team special, according to Harrison.
“Every single day in practice we get at it, and there are no days off,” he said between hugs with teammates and coaches. “That intensity, from start to finish as coach has said all year long, has been the key for us.”
The Warhorses returned to the Swannanoa Valley, trophy in tow, with a police escort through downtown Black Mountain. The 2:20 a.m. arrival time didn’t keep their loyal fans from greeting them along State Street.
“The support we’ve received from this community has been phenomenal,” Morrison said. “We’re proud to be bringing this championship home.”
Photos of the NCHSAA 2A State Soccer Championship between the Owen Warhorses and Clinton Dark Horses can be viewed in the gallery at the top of the page.