FENTON – Elias Pelico-Perez did not expect a chance at redemption.
The starting goalie for East (Kansas City) for much of the regular season, Pelico-Perez had relinquished his net for field player Shukuru Hassani during the Bears’ playoff run.
But when Hassani suffered a concussion after a first half collision with a Ladue player during the Class 3 state championship game, Pelico-Perez was called into emergency duty.
“I wanted playing time so bad, but I didn’t want to earn it that way,” Pelico-Perez said. “I was so worried for my fellow goalkeeper (Hassani) and just seeing him get up, calmed me.”
Pelico-Perez made six confident saves and Msafari Ebumbe scored the game-winning goal as East defeated Ladue 2-0 to capture the Class 3 Missouri State High School Activities Association boys soccer state title Saturday at Soccer Park in Fenton.
East (22-5) captured its first state title in boys soccer after finishing as Class 3 runner-up last season.
A similar situation happened for Pelico-Perez last season when Hassani missed the state championship game against Webster Groves due to illness. The Statesmen scored twice in the second half and converted all four penalty kicks to win the Class 3 title by a 3-2 score.
“Last year, I was so nervous, I was not confident,” Pelico-Perez said. “Whenever we lost, it felt painful. I knew this year I needed to make up for it.”
The Bears’ senior goalie was tested quickly when Ladue sophomore Jordan Oiknine launched a 40-yard free kick into a crowd of bodies that Pelico-Perez confidently consumed with both hands.
Moments later, another free kick from Oiknine was headed goalward by junior Ahmad Shebl, but Pelico-Perez bodied it down with his chest and smothered it.
“During the season, I’ve seen a lot of set kicks into crowds, so I was pretty confident going into those,” Pelico-Perez said.
The quickness and skill of East was on display early, but as the game progressed, Ladue (12-15) settled into its routine of outstanding defense and opportunistic offense.
“I thought they controlled the first 10 (minutes). We were a little jittery, and once we realized we could play with them, our confidence grew,” Ladue coach David Aronberg said.
The game entered halftime scoreless, and Ladue quickly made its move after intermission.
After a high, dangerous kick by an East player connected with the forehead of Shebl, Ladue was awarded an indirect free kick from the top of the 18-yard box.
Oiknine delivered a shot that snuck by the diving Pelico-Perez and into the corner of the net, but the ball did not touch anyone on its journey, and the goal was disallowed.
“That indirect kick was a momentum change because we were rolling at that point,” Aronberg said. “If we get that goal, I think it’s a different story.”
Pelico-Perez made another tough save on a 30-yard blast from Oiknine before East started to change momentum securely into its favor.
It began when the Bears escaped on a 2-on-1 break that required a spectacular, diving save from Ladue sophomore goalkeeper Seaton Thompson. Moments later, Rams’ defenders Johann Schuldt and Jack Scheffel blocked dangerous East shot attempts and a corner kick by Bears’ junior Byaombe Makamba was redirected inches wide by the head of junior Esube Byoke.
“At halftime, we said, ‘If we score one, it’s game,’” Pelico-Perez said.
It came in the 65th minute.
Senior Msafiri Ebumbe found space, dribbled down the right side and veered into the middle. From 25 yards, he unleashed a booming shot that hit Thompson in the chest, spun out of his grasp and bounced behind him into the net.
“I had it in my mind, ‘Should I keep going or just take a shot?’ I usually score from outside the box, so I thought ‘Let me drive this,’” Ebumbe said. “Whatever I had in my leg, whatever God gave to me, I put into that shot and it was so heavy the keeper couldn’t hold it.”
Thompson dropped to his knees and punched the turf as the Bears celebrated their goal.
“We don’t get here without Seaton. We don’t get out of districts,” Aronberg said. “Ten minutes earlier he stopped a point-blank breakaway. I would take Seaton as our goalie 10 out of 10 times. He hasn’t given up a bad goal all season and that one was just fluky.”
It took only 32 seconds for East to find the net again on a brilliant passing play between Ebumbe and junior Jackson Twizerimana that provided no chance for Thompson to make a save.
“I felt the defender on my shoulder and I heard my player crying for it. I said (to myself), ‘Ok, I see you.’ I sent it in and then, ‘Boom,’” Ebumbe said.
The rapid goal was a signature of the Bears season.
“When we score the first one, the other team usually opens the field trying to score and we finish the game 4-0 or 5-0,” East coach Gerzo Guerrero said.
But in a signature of its own remarkable season, Ladue regrouped and finished with a flurry.
It began when Thompson made a splendid diving save on a shot from in tight by junior Hussein Mwanue. In the final six minutes, Ladue forced Pelico-Perez to make two excellent saves, including one from a Schuldt header that he tipped over the crossbar.
The final 10 minutes became a symbol of just how far the Rams had come since stopping their season for two weeks in mid-September and forfeiting four games due to a team infraction.
“If we had played today’s game in early September, we would have been mercy-ruled,” Aronberg said. “I don’t know if the kids realize that, but the growth they have had with character and maturity got us here. We’ve won. This was a win of a year.”
Class 3 Semifinal Preview: Ladue resurrects season, makes improbable run to final four
But East had a redemption story of its own, equally worthy of a Hollywood ending.
In the Bears first trip to the final four last season, the moment became too large.
“Last year it was a scary situation. Some of the players did not want to take a PK (in the championship game),” Guerrero said. “The people around us don’t know how much they have worked and how well-prepared and conditioned they were for this moment.”
And for Pelico-Perez, a chance to have a redo in a state championship setting provided the greatest redemption story of all.
“During the summer, I went to camps, I worked as hard I could for this moment knowing that I needed redemption for last year’s mistakes,” Pelico Perez said. “It feels like I finally made everyone proud.”