Saturday night’s North Coast Section Division I boys soccer championship will be talked about for quite some time.
It will be talked about as an instant classic, a battle of two teams playing physically, respectfully, and offering back-and-forth, fast-paced soccer.
It will be remembered as a game where a great De La Salle program nearly climbed to the pinnacle that it has scaled many times before.
Ultimately, it could be remembered as the win that set the Berkeley program on a path to be a perennial NCS title contender after winning the schools first NCS title since 2004, grabbing the 2017 crown after a 4-3 penalty kick shootout, which followed a 1-1 draw.
For a handful of Berkeley seniors, who have suffered heartbreak in the playoffs for their first three years in the program, this win led to a well of tears that had been building up after seasons of disappointment.
“It’s unbelievable,” Berkeley senior Darius Wekwerth said. “It’s a dream come true, it’s what we’ve been working for during the last four years, and it’s amazing to finally have it come true. I’ll never forget it, that’s for sure.”
What the players, coaches and spectators won’t forget is the scene on the field after the match when senior Roin Flynn was mobbed by what must have seemed like the entire city of Berkeley after the penalty kick victory.
Flynn saved three of the six PK’s he faced, including the last one, which sent the Berkeley side into frenzy.
“When Roin made that last save, at first I didn’t comprehend it,” Berkeley senior Tiez Allison said. “I was too excited. And then I realized we won the championship so I just sprinted over to him and gave him a huge hug. It was amazing. The best feeling I’ve ever had.”
“It felt like a long time coming,” Flynn said. “I was at this for four years, it never quite worked out. It feels great, I’m proud of my team, proud of my school. Hats of to De La Salle, they were very great.”
Flynn’s acknowledgement of De La Salle appeared to be very accurate as the Yellowjacekts defense had to be on its toes for regulation and two overtimes against a relentless Spartans attack.
“You just gotta be focused 24/7,” Berkeley senior Arlo-Moore Bloom said. “De La Salle comes at you the whole game, every single minute of it. You just have to have that discipline in your mind to get back on defense and talk to your teammates.”
Berkeley appeared to stay organized, to communicate well and to trust one another, which is something that comes with this group playing together as much as they have. The core of this Yellowjackets team had been building up to this moment for quite some time.
“This is undoubtedly the most special moment I have had with any of these guys, and I have been playing with Arlo and Roin since I was five years old,” Berkeley senior Max Peterson said. “Honestly, it hasn’t even set in yet. The emotional rollercoaster that this game was is too much for me to take in right now. I’m just happy for the program, I feel like Berkeley soccer has gone unrecognized because we haven’t been in a final since 2004, and we have a great program with a great philosophy, this is an affirmation that it works and we are a serious contender of a program. To cap it off against De La Salle is something else.”
What beating De La Salle meant in this situation was that Berkeley ran a gauntlet of four East Bay Athletic League teams to get to this point, becoming the first non-EBAL team since Pittsburg in 2008 to win the DI title.
“Much respect to Granada, Foothill, SRV and De La Salle,” Peterson said. “I don’t think we could have asked for a tougher series of games. That was a serious test and I think it just shows the strength of the program. I’m so, so incredibly proud of this team.”
The key for Berkeley was getting past San Ramon Valley in the semifinals, a team that had beat them in the last three NCS playoffs. Beating the Wolves bred a confidence in the team.
“Beating San Ramon was a huge confidence boost,” Wekwerth said. “We kinda had a curse against them the last three years, and beating them gave this team huge amounts of confidence going into this game.”
The Yellowjackets stayed true to themselves, got past San Ramon Valley, and finally climbed the height they had been hoping for.
“Just to know that what we practice is paying off,” Allison said. “That we are beating teams ranked higher than us, beating EBAL teams, it just shows that you don’t have to be an EBAL team to perform well in NCS. You can be Berkeley.”
The Yellowjackets hoped to have the match sewed up in regulation, nearly doing so as they were six minutes from making that happen. They scored first, on a goal that seemed to come out of nowhere in the 58th minute.
Flynn sent a kick what seemed like two-thirds of the way down the field, and it found a streaking Allison. Who was able to control the ball, hold off the defender, and finish with his left foot.
“It was a feeling like no other,” Allison said of scoring the goal. “When Roin gave me that punt from 85 yards away, I really didn’t expect much. When I tapped it in with my left foot, it was a great feeling. It’s really hard to describe with words. Just knowing I scored in the NCS final is amazing.”
A team like the Spartans is not beaten until all 80 minutes have been played, and with six of the 80 remaining, they leveled.
De La Salle had come close to breaking through on many occasions, and finally did this time as Berkeley could not clear the ball after a shot by Omar Jiron created danger.
The ball wound up to Luke Guisto, who was able to cross the ball on the ground to Logan Tingey who was at the far post, and he buried the equalizer.
This must have felt like a long-time coming after the Spartans had knocked on the door so many times, especially in the first half.
“De La Salle is one of the best soccer teams I have ever played,” Peterson said. “The discipline on their part, the desire, I thought for the better part of the game they had us on our heels.”
