2025 Soccer Championship Recap

By Coach Doug Langlois

The 2025 season was a unique chapter for Jesse Remington soccer. After finishing the previous year as league champions, we entered the new season with uncertainty. We had graduated many strong seniors and lost several additional players, leaving us unsure if we would even have enough athletes to field a team.

But God is good. He not only provided enough players, but blessed us with a potent starting lineup. Four homeschooled players joined the squad, several freshmen stepped in with enthusiasm, and together they formed a solid roster of 19.

The season started strong. Through the first six games, we didn’t allow a single goal while scoring plenty of our own. We saw scoring contributions from nine or ten different players. Toward the end of the season, our schedule toughened, and our goals-against average inevitably rose, but we continued playing excellent soccer and entered the playoffs physically prepared.

As the season wound down and the time came to defend our three-year championship run, a bit of apathy crept in. Perhaps the team had grown weary of the long season—extended by an extra week but with fewer games. Some players were ready to be done before the final push. We gathered as a team and talked honestly about finishing well. Ultimately, those committed to running the full race carried the day.

We closed the season with a three-way tournament between Tri-City Christian, Mount Zion, and JRHS—three teams, three games, one champion.

Our first match was against Mount Zion, a team we had tied 0–0 and lost to 1–0 during the regular season. This was the matchup everyone anticipated. We were without our most talented player, Juan Saa, as well as Emily Hubbard. Wesley Barrett, who was scheduled to start, came straight from an all-night youth event and drove nearly three hours to make the game. But you go to battle with the team you have.

The match was tightly contested. Mount Zion was also missing one of their key players, which leveled the field slightly. Scoring chances were rare for both sides. Their defense was outstanding. We started Mathias in goal—an exceptional keeper—and moved Beni to the back line to solidify our defense. Our best chance came on a trick corner play that nearly slipped behind their goalie.

Late in the game, Mount Zion had a few free kicks but couldn’t produce a dangerous shot. Regulation ended 0–0, overtime produced no breakthrough, and the match advanced to penalty kicks.

I’ll admit—I had been preparing for this moment, confident in our keeper and our shooters. After several misses by both teams, it came down to Mount Zion’s final kick. We led 2–1. Mathias didn’t need to make a save; the shot bent right and missed the post by a foot. Victory. Four championships in a row. It was an electric finish to a scoreless but fiercely played match between two strong, disciplined teams.

Although we celebrated, the job wasn’t quite finished. We still had to beat Tri-City. Missing Andrew due to work, we regrouped and refocused. Adam scored within the first three minutes, but the pace slowed afterward, and Tri-City found a few chances of their own. We tightened our play and struck twice more. Emma delivered a beautiful finish off a pass from Adam—one touch to settle, the second a clean shot into the bottom left corner. Tri-City managed to score once, but we closed out the game 5–1 and secured the championship outright.

I was proud—not only of how we played, but how we finished the race, much like Paul’s words in 2 Timothy 4:7. And our race continues. Remember:

“…in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us… nothing in all creation will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” —Romans 8:37–39