Late heroics by two seniors leads Meadowcreek to Class 6A soccer title
The Meadowcreek soccer team saved its best effort for the biggest moment and came away with the second state soccer championship in school history.
The Mustangs scored a late goal to tie the Class 6A championship game 1-1 and force overtime. After two scoreless 10-minute periods, they won the game 4-3 on penalty kicks before a packed house at Duluth High School on Thursday.
Two seniors were the heroes for Meadowcreek: keeper Alexandre Diouf and Enzo Osorio.
Diouf stopped the shot of Walton’s Jawad Khalil and Osorio fired the decider past Walton’s Jake Mundy, setting off a wild celebration.
“It feels so surreal,” Diouf said. “I tried my hardest. Everything was going through my head. I was thinking about dancing in the shower after celebrating my state championship.”
Osorio was the last of Meadowcreek’s five shooters. He was confident of his skills as he walked to the line and placed his ball.
“I practiced this before the game and I knew it was my time to shine,” said Osorio, who was named the game’s MVP. “I had to finish it off.”
Coach Jose Rodriguez was confident that his team would prevail once the game came down to penalty kicks.
“That’s something that’s part of our practices, where we put it, what we do,” Rodriguez said. “Everything is real methodical and micromanaged in that area. I told my assistant that if this game goes into overtime, we’re going to win in the PK shootout. We don’t miss PKs at all, even in practice. I knew if Alex makes a save, we were going to win this game — and we did.”
The first half ended in a 0-0 tie with both sides having opportunities to score. Meadowcreek (20-3) was the more aggressive team in the first 20 minutes, with Walton (17-4) peppering the net with several opportunities in the second 20 minutes.
Walton finally broke the ice when Khalil scored midway in the second half, but Meadowcreek scored with less than seven minutes remaining on a crossing shot by Randy Lemus Arredondo.
“I told the boys, the team that creates the most opportunity wins and I feel like we created the most opportunities,” Rodriguez said. “That cross was magical. I’m sure there’s a lot of luck that went into that, but the simple fact that he took the cross and made the cross, you never know what can happen. What a great way to do this.”
Meadowcreek, the Region 7 champion, lost its final regular-season game, but got hot in the playoffs. The Mustangs defeated Heritage, Dacula, Lambert and Carrollton to reach the finale.
“I started in 2021 and every group we’ve had has had so much talent,” Rodriguez said. “So to be able to really put everything into play with them when it comes to the academics, as community support and everything that we have, we knew we just needed a certain catalyst to really launch this into what it is. For us to win a state championship, it’s just really like an external recognition of all the work we’ve done at Meadow Creek High School.”
Walton, the Region 5 champion, entered the game on a 10-game winning streak. The Raiders had beaten Osborne, North Forsyth, Buford and Collins Hill to reach the championship game and had outscored their opponents 11-2 in the postseason.
About the Author
Stan Awtrey has been covering sports for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution since 1977. He currently writes about high school sports, Georgia State University athletics and golf.
