BLACKSTONE—The 2014 VCC Soccer championship game came down to two local teams battling it out on the Larry Clary Field at the Kenston Forest School in Blackstone on Friday.

With about 2 minutes remaining in the game and the score tied at 1 all, Southampton Academy soccer head coach Jamie Weist was thinking that the game would be going into overtime. But Johnny Tribbett, assisted by Seth Edwards, thought different, as he squeezed the ball past a few Isle of Wight Academy Chargers to put the Raiders up 2-1 and win the big game.

The Raiders dominated play during the first half, but just couldn’t manage a score. Caren Moore, head coach of the Chargers, prizes her team on their defense as they held the Raiders scoreless during the first half.

“Our defense fought every single game. I really love the defense,” said Coach Moore. “If it wasn’t for that we would not have won 9 games and tied one.”

But with the constant attack of the Raiders in the first half, the Chargers’ Justin Cobb powered a kick to score about midway during the first half. The first half ended with the Chargers up 1-0.

As the game entered the second half of play, the Chargers started coming on strong.

“We told them during the halftime talk to get motivated and get in there and fight for it,” added coach Moore.

Although the Chargers got more aggressive in the second half, it was the Raiders who managed to get the upper hand. The Raiders first score of the game came unassisted by Colin Swenson.

Coach Weist said, “the theme of week was that we have to stay focused and have to finish strong. We had a lot of opportunities all game. It was a hard-fought game and the Chargers played a great game but I think in the end we just finished strong.

“This is the first VCC championship in the 13 year program of Southampton Academy,” said Weist after the game. Of that, he was all smiles.