Homewood scored two goals in a two-minute stretch late in the second half to seal a hard-fought 3-0 victory over Fort Payne in the AHSAA Class 6A Boys' State Soccer Championship match at Huntsville's John Hunt Soccer Complex Saturday.
The Patriots (24-0-2), coached by Sean McBride, took the lead 1-0 early in the second half when senior forward Eric Hepp scored on an assist from Connor Smith. Hepp, who earned Class 6A state championship MVP, added his second goal at 68:02 driving past two Wildcat defenders to score. Jackson Wallace tacked on the third goal less than two minutes later.
Fort Payne (19-4-3), coached by Mario Limon, had several good shots on goal thanks to its strong passing and on offense. Christian Hernandez had three shots on goal, one from 30 yards out on a free kick that hooked just over the front bat of the goal that almost tied the match 1-1 late in the second half.
Homewood goalkeeper Ian Myers had four saves for the Patriots and Luis Ramirez of Fort Payne had one save. The two teams met once earlier in the season and finished in a tie.
The championship was the fifth in school history for Homewood and the first since 2014. Fort Payne won state titles in 2011 and 2015.
Seven different players scored goals for Coach Mario Limon's Wildcats (19-3-3) as Fort Payne beat Pell City 7-0 in the Class 6A boys' semifinal match at the 28th annual AHSAA State Soccer Championships Friday.
Seniors Christian Hernandez and Christopher Estrada had one goal and one assist each to lead Fort Payne. Hernandez had the first goal eight minutes into the match. Adrian Vasquez, Yogan Hidrogo, Erin Escobar and Aaron Chavez also added first-half goals to give the Wildcats a 5-0 lead at intermission. Estrada and Renauldo Miguel added goals in the second half to close out the scoring. Ismael Lorenzo and Hidrogo also had an assist.
Luis Ramirez had four saves on goal for Fort Payne. Goalkeeper Ole Osborne had seven saves for Pell City (13-6-2), coached by Sergio Alvarez.
Fort Payne will face Homewood Homewood in the finals Saturday. All championship Friday and Saturda are being live-streamed over the NFHS Network with Cullman High School's NFHS School Broadcast Program producing the matches.
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