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CARY — Page’s boisterous student section bowed as Rob Lovejoy trotted off the field, hat trick in hand and state championship ring in the mail. A few euphoric moments later, he and his teammates, who dismantled just about every team they faced this season, stood together and took a well-earned final bow themselves.

Lovejoy had three beautiful goals in his final high school game, and the Pirates completed a dream season by winning the NCHSAA 4-A state title Friday with a 4-0 victory over Cary Green Hope at WakeMed Soccer Park. (Photo gallery)

“This season turned into something none of us really expected,” said senior midfielder Glen Long, who added a penalty kick goal in the second half and will play with Lovejoy at UNC starting this fall. “We had a very humble beginning to the season, but our record kept getting better and better, and we were confident and finally healthy going into the playoffs. That was a perfect combination.”

It’s Page’s fifth state title and first since 1991, and it’s the first championship for a Guilford County public school since Ragsdale won the 3-A crown in 1995.

The Pirates did it by shutting out their fifth straight opponent and 13th of the season to finish the year with a scoring margin of 111-9.
“We were not going to let one in tonight,” said defenseman Hans Lohmeyer, one of eight seniors on the team.

The UNC-bound Lovejoy was voted MVP by those in the press box. The ballots were a waste of paper if ever there was one. His scoring outburst gave him more than 25 goals for the season and capped a dominant postseason in which he scored in every one of Page’s six victories.

His first strike Friday came about 12 minutes in after a midfield deflection sent the ball back toward him along the sideline. He lured his defender into the corner, then pulled back to his left and rendered him crumpled on the grass before dribbling in and unleashing a rocket from 15 yards out that sailed in untouched.

After Page goalkeeper Tom Jackson, who had four saves, defused a Falcons chance 2 minutes later with a forward lunge, Lovejoy again found himself with the ball at the top of the box after it rattled between players from both sides. He hesitated, turned and fired right at Falcons goalkeeper James Earle, who reached up and got enough of it to deflect it upward. But he didn’t get quite enough, turning just in time to see the ball bounce back across the goal line. Lovejoy sprinted in celebration past the silent Green Hope student section.

“You want to keep your eyes on the prize, so to speak,” Page head coach Mohamed Jaziri said, “but at the same time you have to be cautious enough to say we’ll win this one, then we’ll win the next one, then we’ll win the next one. This team wasn’t necessarily the highest-ranked, but it found ways to win.”

Page absorbed a spirited first few minutes from Green Hope right after halftime, then countered to make it 3-0 when Green Hope’s Andrew Wolschlag was called for a foul on a tackle of Long in the box. Long converted the penalty kick in the 46th minute.

“We never got overconfident,” Long said afterward, cradling the championship trophy. “We had a lot of mature guys who constantly harped on stuff like that.”

Green Hope’s precious few chances just weren’t meant to be on this night. Logan Paussa sailed a shot just high of the crossbar, and Nader Jaibat fanned on a breakaway attempt and later had a goal on a header disallowed on an offside call.

Lovejoy had no such trouble. He outraced a defender half the length of the field to convert his final goal.

Page has been in the playoffs every year since 2001 and has had teams with similar potential, but this was the Pirates’ first title game appearance in Jaziri’s tenure.

Many of his former players were in Page’s sizable cheering section, and Jaziri told this team afterward that the win was for all of them.
“These kids really wanted it. Really wanted it,” he said. “This was long overdue.”

Contact Tom Keller at 373-7034 or tom.keller@news-record.com

Goals: Page - Rob Lovejoy 3, Glen Long 1. Shots: Page 14, Green Hope 17. Saves: Page (Tom Jackson) 4, Green Hope (James Earl) 4. Corner Kicks: Page 0, Green Hope 3.
Records: Green Hope 19-5-2, Page 22-0-2.