Marty Gordon, NRVsports@ourvalley.org
Two state soccer championship teams reside in Montgomery County.
Both Blacksburg and Christiansburg high schools brought boys’ trophies home on Saturday.
Christiansburg won the Class 3 title, while Blacksburg claimed the Class 4 one.
Despite high temperatures on the artificial turf at Emory and Henry University on Saturday, Christiansburg was even hotter, rolling to a 4-2 victory against Brentsville District.
The mercury showed 94 degrees at the time of kickoff and humidity pushed the temps to over 100 degrees. Organizers allowed two water breaks during the first half as Christiansburg built a 2-0 lead.
Head coach Adam Pickeral called the 4-1 win incredible.
“We had been building the program this year, and it was great to get the win,” he said.
Christiansburg won their first state soccer title after compiling a 17-5-1 record. The Blue Demons losses this season came twice to the Class 4 state champs, Blacksburg, a tie and loss to Class 5 Patrick Henry and a loss to Class 4 Salem.
Enroute to the state championships, the team won six straight games. The championship comes after two previous losses in the state semifinals.
“Yes, it is pretty surreal, but the boys really worked hard for it,” Pickeral said.
Blacksburg would take the championship after putting together a 25-0 record during the season.
After a 4-0 win over Atlee on Friday in a Class 4 state semifinal, Blacksburg would win the state title on Saturday with a 4-1 victory over Charlottesville at Woodgrove High School in Loudon County.
The score was 3-1 at halftime, with goals from Craig Huxtable, Keanan Kopp, and Alex Doyle. Brendan Osebre tacked on the goal number 4 in the second half for the final score.
Blacksburg Coach Shelley Blumenthal said it was Incredibly rewarding to have accomplished the goal of another state championship and an unbeaten record against great competition with an outstanding group of young men.
“To be undefeated and untied required an excellent teamwork mentality, team first approach, resilience, buy in from our players, and fitness,” he said.
Blacksburg will lose a large amount of this championship team as it included 17 seniors, but in Blumental’s case, it has become a yearly case of reloading. He has a career record of 637 wins, 56 losses and 26 ties.
This has included 13 state championships and 10 state runner ups in 33 seasons.
“With so many young people playing youth soccer nationwide, the New River Valley and Roanoke areas are no different,” Blumental said. “In addition, at Blacksburg High School, there is a culture in which our success has breeded continued interest in playing high school soccer and following the tradition and standards established by previous teams,” he said.
