COLUMBIA --- When the whistle blew to end the game that would give its players a state championship, the South Aiken boys soccer team wasn't sure what to do.
"We didn't know who to dogpile, who to jump on," said Chad Christensen, a South Aiken senior and the goalkeeper. "We all just kind of met in the middle. Then we went crazy."
South Aiken won a South Carolina Class AAA championship Saturday night with a 2-1 overtime victory over Eastside-Greenville at Memorial Stadium. It was the school's first soccer championship since 2005, when it won a Class AAAA title.
Brett Van Pelt scored South Aiken's first goal. Its other score came when an Eastside defender headed a cross from Allen Grier into his goal. South Aiken held Eastside scoreless for the next 13:50 of overtime.
"Heart, endurance, hard work -- (the championship game) was about everything that got us here," said South Aiken coach Paul Waters.
Eastside and South Aiken endured 80 scoreless minutes before beginning a 20-minute overtime period. South Aiken held an advantage entering overtime, because it had played with a man advantage for the final 18:48 of the second half. Eastside defender Carlos Berrio was ejected for ripping South Aiken senior Chris Blanton to the ground. From there, Eastside had only 10 players.
After falling behind two minutes into overtime, South Aiken scored twice in the final 7:10 of the first overtime period.
"Their work ethic was amazing," Eastside coach Scott Halkett said of South Aiken. "You can't give a team like that too many chances."
Reach Matt Middleton at (706) 823-3425 or matt.middleton@augustachronicle.com.
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