Todd Beamer, which opened in 2003, won its first state championship with a 2-1 victory over Pasco.
PUYALLUP – Todd Beamer celebrated like its never celebrated before Saturday night.
The Titans’ boys soccer team prompted the celebration by winning the first state championship in any sport for Todd Beamer, which was built in 2003.
And there’s no other group Titans head coach Joel Lindberg would’ve rather been celebrating with.
An emotional Lindberg hoisted the championship trophy with his Todd Beamer squad after a hard-fought 2-1 victory over Pasco in the Class 4A state title game Saturday evening at Sparks Stadium. Afterward, Lindberg teared up while talking about the guys in neon yellow jerseys standing all around him.
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“It feels amazing,” Lindberg said. “We’ve been waiting for this a long time. I couldn’t have picked a better team to earn this with. Even if we wouldn’t have won (the title), I would’ve been talking about this team for years.
“I’m just so proud of these guys. … It’s really special.”
Both teams battled in a game that featured a combined 23 fouls. One foul in particular, in the 49th minute, awarded a penalty kick to Todd Beamer (19-1-1). Junior JJ Allen calmly shot the ball past the diving Pasco goalkeeper to break a 1-1 tie.
Todd Beamer had to hold off a late attack by Pasco (18-5) to clinch the title but the final whistle blew and the Titans’ celebration was on.
“We had belief in us and we got the win,” Allen said. “ … It’s amazing. I don’t know if our school has won state for anything. It’s going to go down in the memory books for Todd Beamer Titans.”
Pasco’s David Uribe got the Bulldogs on the scoreboard quickly heading in a pass off a Joel Valle free kick in the fourth minute.
Beamer’s Mark Filimonov came right back. Flimonov shot a rocket from over 30 yards out into the back of the net to tie the score in the 15th minute.
“Something just told me just to shoot it,” Filimonov said. “I shot it and saw it curving top left. It felt amazing scoring that. That gave us the momentum to go out and win this game.”
The tie remained until Allen’s penalty kick early in the second half.
“For JJ to step up and bury it was perfect,” Lindberg said. “It was the perfect end to the season.”
Note
• Keegan Rubio and Camron Miller netted two goals apiece as Glacier Peak (16-5-1) scored the game’s first three goals to beat Central Valley 5-3 in the third/fourth-place game.