By Mark Nagi
Second verse… same as the first for the Grace Christian boys’ soccer team. On Thursday, May 21, the Rams won their second straight state title, defeating Chattanooga Notre Dame 3-1 in the Division II-A championship game in Murfreesboro.
“God blesses us, and sometimes he makes us work with patience,” said Grace Christian head coach Issac Brooks. “And that’s what we’ve been preaching for years and years and years. So, it’s the DNA of this team that they know that if you just stay the course, God will do what He’s gonna do.”
The Rams had lost only one game all season … to Chattanooga Notre Dame (21-1-1) in the East Region Finals on May 7. In that game, the Fighting Irish rallied late to force overtime and eventually toppled Grace in penalty kicks.
And things didn’t start the best way for the Rams in the championship game. Despite controlling the run of play, Grace found themselves trailing Notre Dame 1-0 when Owen Maddox scored in the 23rd minute. But this was a mentally tough Grace Christian team that wouldn’t be shaken.
Less than seven minutes later, Rams defender Pedro Salvador got his head on a beautiful corner kick from Vicenzo Barbosa. That tied the game at 1. At the start of the second half, senior striker Colby Gouge got on the scoreboard for his second goal in as many days. That would be the game-winning goal.
“He (Gouge) was on and off for us last year, getting good minutes,” said Brooks. “But now he’s a senior, and he played club last year. He just got much better. And you see him creating chances.”
This was a game dominated by Grace Christian (16-1-1) in all statistical categories. The Rams outshot the Fighting Irish 33-6 and had 11 shots on goal to ND’s 3. The Rams had 63% of possession and an astounding 17-2 edge in corner kicks.
But it took another Salvador goal off another corner kick in the 64th minute to put the game away, as he got just enough on a cross as the ball trickled past the ND keeper.
While the goals were unexpected (Salvador had only two goals all season), they were the result of preparation.
“All year long, we’ve been getting him (Salvador) up on corners, and, like, teams will mark him or whatever, but it’s one of the things we were in the state championship, and he put it all on the line,” said Brooks. “He threw his body out there. We had been working on those corners all year long.”
Sometimes, hard work pays off. The Rams have been to the state tournament twice in program history. They have the 2025 and 2026 state titles to show for it.
“It’s a blessing,” said Brooks, who has been the head coach at Grace since 2018. “Two years ago, we were in the quarterfinals, and we were just a few seconds away from equalizing. It was one of those things where we were right there. But they just kept plugging away and being patient and doing what we’re supposed to do.”
