Wolverines Take AAASP State Soccer Crown in Warm Springs
The West Georgia Wolverines took the state title with a score of 7 to 6 during the final game of the 5th Annual AAASP State Indoor Wheelchair Soccer Tournament.
The event was hosted at the Roosevelt Warm Springs Institute for Rehabilitation in Warm Springs on November 18, 2000. A crowd of over 250 spectators and fans cheered the four teams during a rainy Saturday afternoon.
The heart-pounding championship game, tied at 6 to 6 at the final buzzer, was finally won in the 6th minute of a 10 minute sudden death overtime against the Eastern Division winners, the Macon Bears. Robby Turner of the Wolverines fired the ball into the goal scoring the winning point.
The crowd was going absolutely wild for the full 6 minutes of the sudden death. Macon had fought their way back from a 5 - 1 deficit at the half and the crowd's excitement was building with every goal made by the Bears in the final three periods.
But the Wolverines proved too tough to beat in the end, encouraged by the overwhelming hometown crowd. The Wolverines had fought their way to the championship round by taking out the three time AAASP State Champion Clayton Eagles of Jonesboro by a score of 9 to 2 in the first game of the Final Four series, the Western Division Playoff held at 11 a.m. that morning. The air became electric on the back of that first upset, and it seemed to stay that way until the end.
"We worked all season on how to beat those two or three Clayton power chair players," Wolverine coach Rick Alexander confessed. "You see those guys coming at you and you know theyíre an impenetrable wall. You canít go through or past that. Passing more, keeping a cool head and working our plays made the difference."
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