All season, the Worthington Christian High School boys soccer team heard how it wasn't as good as a year ago when it advanced to the Division III state championship game.

It had been a particularly long year in that aspect for the Warriors' offense.

Eric Stevenson, who missed the first month of the 2008 season with an injury and then returned to score 13 goals before signing with Akron University, led an attack that also featured 2009 graduate Luke Helmuth (12 goals) and had eight games of three goals or more.

Senior midfielder Blake Miller was expected to be one of Worthington Christian's top offensive threats this year, but went down in the season's fourth game with a torn anterior cruciate ligament, further complicating matters.

The Warriors, however, scored 18 more goals overall than a year ago, including earning a 2-1 overtime win last Friday over Cuyahoga Valley Christian Academy in the state final in Columbus Crew Stadium that should have silenced their critics.

"We were talking about last year, and how a lot of people thought that team was better than this team," midfielder Trent Smith said. "But we got it done."

Smith, who was one of six seniors for the Warriors, but the only senior other than forward Collin King to be a key player on offense, made sure of that.

With 7 minutes, 20 seconds left in overtime, Smith stole the ball from one defender, moved past three others and shot one past CVCA goalkeeper Nick Ciraldo for the winning goal.

The ball slipped through Ciraldo's leg and bounced off the left post before trickling in.

It was the only goal a Worthington Christian player scored during the game and marked the first time in more than two months that the Royals allowed more than one goal.

CVCA managed to keep sophomore forward Brett Elder -- who had at least one goal in five of the Warriors' six previous tournament games -- from scoring.

But the Royals gave up an own goal with 27:29 remaining in regulation.

After Albert Miller crossed the ball near the goal, CVCA's Steve Morris tried to clear it but the ball went backward to Ciraldo. Worthington Christian's Caleb Palumbo jumped toward the ball and missed it but it squirted past Ciraldo into the back of the net.

"They did a great job on Brett," coach Dan Roads said.

"Trent is a special player who practices those shots on a daily basis. Give all of the credit to Trent. I don't think they made any adjustments, but they just started to play harder in the second half and we were lucky enough to survive it."

While CVCA finished 16-1-5 overall, Worthington Christian finished 18-1-4 and won its second state title. The Warriors have been to the state tournament eight times since 2000 with their other title coming in 2006, and the Royals were champions in 2004 and '07 and runners-up in '02 and '08.

CVCA forced overtime with 12:05 remaining when Jack Thompson scored off a pass from Sachem Wilson. It was only the second goal the Warriors allowed in the postseason.

According to senior stopper Caleb Palumbo, perhaps the biggest motivation in winning the title was the feeling he and his teammates experienced after the 1-0 loss to Toledo Ottawa Hills in the state final last season.

The championship completed a run that included tournament wins over Fairbanks (2-0 on Oct. 31) in a district final, South Webster (2-1 on Nov. 7) in a regional final and Cincinnati Seven Hills (1-0 on Nov. 10) in a state semifinal.

Worthington Christian's only loss was to eventual Division II state champion DeSales (4-1 on Oct. 13).

"Last year was extremely disappointing," Palumbo said. "It didn't sink in until a couple days after the season that we weren't going to be playing again. We didn't want to experience that again and it feels great to come out with a win."