Rome News-Tribune

Model soccer teams enjoy fruits of storybook seasons

◆ The Devils fell short in the state championsh­ip game, while the Lady Devils’ memorable run ended in the state semis.

This wasn’t the ending to the script that they’d hoped for. The Model boys and girls soccer teams had amazing, magical, incredible, unforgetta­ble dream seasons this spring. Both teams reached No. 1 in the state rankings, both teams won region championsh­ips by dominating their opposition, both teams went undefeated at home, both teams put together mind-boggling statistica­l achievemen­ts and both teams reached the Class AA state semifinals.

But in real life, unlike the movies, you can’t write the script to play out exactly like you want it. You can’t have rewrites and second and third and fourth takes. You can’t account for someone else’s goals and desires. And in sports, sometimes you just meet your match.

The Model Blue Devils and Lady Blue Devils accomplish­ed just about everything you can on the soccer field this year — except bring home a state championsh­ip trophy.

The girls team put together an incredible 19-game win streak during the season, outscored their region opponents by an eye-popping margin of 103-0, had a stretch in March where they won five matches by a combined score of 50-0 and made it all the way to the Class AA final four before losing a heartbreak­ing 4-2 game to Mount Paran Christian. Along the way, they set records for most wins in a season, most goals in a season, most shutouts in a season and went unbeaten at home for the first time ever.

Meanwhile the Model boys went one step further. The Blue Devils sat atop the state rankings for most of the year, won an amazing 18 consecutiv­e games, won four thrilling state tournament games on their home field (including knocking off two top-10 teams) and made the state

championsh­ip game for the first time in program history before falling 2-0 to Toombs County on a sunny, steamy evening in Macon last Wednesday.

The sad reality of life is that the higher on a ladder that you climb, the harder and more painful the fall should you not reach the top. If you fall from the first rung of a ladder, well, it probably won’t bother you too much. But should you reach the highest rung of that ladder and then fall — well, there will likely be a lot of pain and a lot of tears.

I was fortunate enough to be able to help cover the Class AA boys championsh­ip match last week at Mercer University. Alex Farrer and I sat in the press box at Mercer’s Five Star Stadium, hoping for a Hollywood ending to the Blue Devils’ fantastic season. But unfortunat­ely, it wasn’t meant to be.

The Toombs County Bulldogs, from Lyons, were just a step quicker and took advantage of just a couple of the limited scoring opportunit­ies in the game.

Despite being down two goals at halftime, we felt like Model could flip the script at any moment, score a couple of goals, and get right back in the game, setting up a potential epic finish.

Only those chances never came. As the final seconds ticked off the clock, I watched one of the

Model seniors crumble to the stadium turf as if he’d been hit with a steel pipe. The painful reality had set in that this magical season wasn’t going to have a magical finish.

But I have learned in life that often times, when we’re in the moment (particular­ly a painful one), we can’t see the forest because of the trees. We can’t see the big picture because we’re trapped in the freeze-frame of that instant. We can’t see that event in the context of a long period of time because we are locked into the immediacy of that present reality.

However, in time, we do gain a better perspectiv­e. And I’ve seen it myself at Model High School.

Back in 1997, I was working at the Comcast TV station in Rome as the sports director. That year, I got to witness the most impressive girls basketball team I have ever seen, the 1996-97 Model Lady Blue Devils. They romped over almost everyone on their schedule, and won some classic, heart-stopping, heavyweigh­t battles against incredible teams like Holy Innocents’, Armuchee, Manchester and Buford.

I stood on the floor of the Macon Coliseum as Model, down three points with just seconds left in the Class A semifinals, hit a game-tying 3-pointer against Putnam County to send the game into overtime, where Model eventually won 67-62. All that stood between the Lady Blue Devils and a storybook season was the championsh­ip game

two days later against Pelham.

But that is where the story changed. Model had a halftime lead but couldn’t quite hold off a very talented Pelham squad, falling 56-53 in the title game. It was a painful loss for the Model team and the community which turned out en masse to support the Lady Blue Devils.

However, over time, the hurt of that defeat has faded, but the wonderful memories of that team (and that entire mid 1990s-era under coach Andy Akin) still remain. I occasional­ly run into some of the amazing young ladies who played on that team, and we still can share a smile about some of those terrific games and lasting impression­s. They have grown to be incredible women who are business leaders, mothers, wives, teachers and some of them are even coaches. They have used the lessons from their days as high school athletes to shape them into the successful people they are today.

It would have been almost impossible to have that perspectiv­e as a 16-year-old, though. Our teenage brains aren’t quite able to handle things as well as we (hopefully) learn to do as adults. But the one lesson we can hopefully share with high school athletes is this — don’t let the disappoint­ment of the moment diminish in ANY way the amazing accomplish­ments you’ve had.

The big picture is just that — bigger than one game or one final score or one moment. The breadth and scope of your achieve

ments as a whole define you — not just one moment.

One of my favorite songs from MY high school days (yes, I know, I’m old) was the late ’80s power ballad from Poison called “Every Rose Has Its Thorn.” There is a classic line in the song that says “Like the knife that cuts you, the wound heals, but the scar — that scar remains.” As cheesy as it sounds, trust me, that line is true. Don’t focus on the scar — yes, we all have those in life — but focus on the fact that yes, indeed, wounds do heal.

I know the players on Model’s soccer teams were wounded by the final outcomes in those last games this month. The pain on their faces and the tears on their cheeks were evidence of that. But the good news is that, with a little bit of time, those wounds will heal up, and while a scar might still be there, it doesn’t hurt.

What they will hopefully be left with are the plethora of amazing, indelible memories from this past season, when — for a few months — Model was on top of the soccer world. It was a beautiful season, despite the pain of a thorny finish.

Roses are beautiful, and thorns make you bleed. Both of those can be true. But it’s what you focus on that makes the difference. To the players and coaches in the Model soccer program — remember the beauty of the 2024 season, and I hope those memories are what you carry with you in the years to come.