Aquinas soccer boys celebrate rank as nation's best

Hey ... a team is never too advanced to work on self-improvement.

That level of mindset is precisely the one that boosted the St. Thomas Aquinas High School boys soccer team all season long on its path to a seventh consecutive state title Nov. 7 in Topeka.

When asked about the national caliber schedule that keyed bringing it all about, Saints coach Craig Ewing said, “We’ve got to put ourselves out there. We have to risk losing, you know?”

Afterward, with a pair of Nov. 17 announcements, Ewing’s Saints, who finished 21-0 for the second smearless season in this heralded program’s history and knocked off rival Bishop Miege in the 5A state title match, still managed to take things up a notch.

An otherwise quiet Tuesday brought the news that Aquinas would end the season rated No. 1 in the nation in not one, but two national polls.

When all three teams ranked ahead of the Saints in the final National Soccer Coaches of America/adidas poll lost, Aquinas inherited the No. 1 spot in that poll.

Meanwhile, following a loss by St. Ignatius (Ohio) in its state title game, Aquinas, which had finished its own season at No. 3 in the ESPN Rise Fab 50 poll, climbed to No. 2 the following week, and now, to No. 1.

The final poll would not come out for another week, but a note on the ESPN Rise Web site assured that the Saints would remain at No. 1.

Not much earlier, “It looked like we were going to end up third,” Ewing said. “But God smiled.”

So what better time than now for the national champs to work to improve their ... dance moves?

When the decision got made that the Aquinas seniors would be momentarily dancing with senior ladies at a pep rally in their honor at school on Nov. 19, Ewing may have been concerned for the first time all season.

This despite the fact his boys program owned its second national title in school history under his command.

The first, following the Saints’ finish atop the USA Today/Umbro poll in 1994, closed out the program’s first-ever undefeated finish.

Soon a banner will be going up right beneath the 1994 banner in the school gym to commemorate their feat.

And this feat: “Getting these guys to do 10 seconds of dance,” the coach quipped, “was harder than doing a corner kick, honestly.”

But it were not as if the Saints had come this far to lose now.

So they did not.

A strobe light began to swirl in the darkened gymnasium. Girls shrieked Beatles-esque, and not only because senior players entered arm and arm outfitted in sport coats, ties ... and soccer shorts, socks and sneakers.

Each senior player danced with a lady. Each pairing then swept off into the mid-afternoon to the cheers of the student body.

As if this bunch needed another memorable exit.

They got one, though.

“At the beginning of the season, (a national title) was a thought in the backs of our heads,” senior starting goalkeeper Colby Martin said, “because we saw we were No. 18 in the nation.

“We never thought we would have that banner in (the gym)”, added Martin, who will play for collegiately for William Jewell. “It’s kind of like a dream come true.”

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