Aledo boys scuttled, Wakeland sweeps both 5A soccer titles

Determined to defend its soccer title, Frisco Wakeland engineered its way to a successful 3-1 outcome Saturday against Aledo in the boys UIL Class 5A final at Birkelbach Field.

The victorious Wolverines (19-4-6), also matched the title won by the Wakeland girls earlier in the day. Wakeland is the first school with boys and girls champions in the same year since Richardson accomplished the feat in 1985.

Aledo (25-1-4) struggled to generate any first-half scoring opportunities, getting just two shots. Meanwhile, the Wolverines took 11 shots, and forward Marc Borbonus made it 1-0 in the 19th minute by connecting off a rebound.

"They were just killing us down the flanks, so we changed everything up the second half," Aledo coach Derek Vierling said.

The Wolverines, state qualifiers five times in the 10 years Wakeland has been open, made it 2-0 in the 64th minute when Reid Stewart drilled a shot inside the near post from 20 yards out.

Aledo then got really creative, moving 6-foot-3 goalkeeper Konrad Garbowski, an exchange student from Germany, up whenever possible. He took free kicks inside Wakeland's half, and Vierling even used Garbowski's height advantage as a forward in the 18-yard box on one Aledo free kick.

"Obviously we changed everything at that point trying to get at goal and make it 2-1," Vierling said. "We did everything we could to try to tie it up. Konrad's a heck of a player. Dropped down from heaven for us, couldn't have done it without him."

Instead, the Wolverines added a goal off a corner kick, but Aledo averted the shutout when Max Owens converted a penalty kick with 73 seconds left.

"They ever quit, scored a goal with a minute left," Vierling said. "We kept trying.

"We left ourselves shorthanded in the back. If you lose a championship game 1-0, you didn't try very hard."

This story was originally published April 21, 2018 at 6:47 PM with the headline "Aledo boys scuttled, Wakeland sweeps both 5A soccer titles."