For the third time in the last ten years, our Cinnaminson High School boy’s soccer team can call themselves sectional champions after the boys put a 4-0 thumping on Audubon today at home.  While a lopsided final score is sometimes an inaccurate depiction of a game, this final score is completely accurate – the Pirates jumped all over the Green Wave, early and often on Thursday.

All four goals were scored before the first half was over. Senior Nick Patel scored the first goal off an assist from junior Pat McCarthy within the first five minutes of the start of the game. Nick Patel had one word to describe what he felt after scoring the first goal of the game, “amazing.”

Senior Steven Kalbach followed with his own goal three minutes later. The Pirates were already up 2-0 before most fans were able to sit down from an early 2 p.m. dismissal from school after hustling out to the field.

And, yet, the Pirates were not done.  Junior Mason Stepnowski scored off an assist from Mark Staudenmayer with 19 minutes left in the first half to increase the score to 3-0.

Kalbach added one more goal to the score at the 37:00 minute mark of the first half with a bending free kick. The boys definitely had confidence going into halftime and an enourmous 4-0 lead that the Green Wave could do little about.

However, for the second game in a row, the most impressive moment of the game came in the second half when goal keeper Mike Deal was faced with a penalty kick. In the last game against Woodstown, Deal made what Woodstown coach described as “one of the most impressive saves he’s seen all season” when stoning a penalty kick (according to nj.com) from a Woodstown player.  Once again, Deal pulled through and kept a clean sheet, managing to save the penalty kick and keep the shut out going.

When asked how he impressively saves so many penalty kicks, Deal says “we’ve been working on this all season. You just have to watch when they run up, read their hips and feet and block the kick.”

With Deal just being a sophomore it’s impressive how well he has been playing this season. During this playoff run he has let up just one goal. Deal claims that “he couldn’t do it without the rest of the boys, especially the defense and back line.” He says that getting the shut out is just “something [they’ve] been working on since the beginning of the season. It could not have gotten done without the impressive defensive combination of Andrew Blade, Darnell Brown, Tom Long and Matt Ochman.”

With the counting down from 30 seconds from the fans and the score still at an impressive 4-0, the Pirates knew they had the win in the bag. At zero seconds they ran for their fans, proud to give them something they have been waiting two years for. Two years ago, the 2012-2013 season boys soccer team made it to this game but did not advance after a devastating loss to West Deptford in penalty kicks. Nick Patel admits that “we’ve been trying to redeem ourselves after that loss. We finally did and we’re definitely looking to keep winning.”

At the end of the game, Deal walked away with four saves. The Pirates finished with 24 shots on goal. Audobon’s goalie, Wayne Test, who was peppered with shots on the goal, had nine saves and the rest of the team had only six shots on goal.

Head Coach Jay Meile said that he “always [has] nerves before the game” and now more than ever that statement is true. “From here on out, every team we play can say they are champions,” he explains.  Depsite his nerves, he says that “as long as these boys come out and play like they know how, we have a good chance of winning.”

The win was the first sectional championship for the boys since 2007, who also won in 2004.

On Tuesday night, the Pirates will face Central Jersey Champion, Governor Livingston, who defeated Holmdel 1-0 after an improbable run as the 13 seed.  Unlike the Pirates, who throttled the four teams they faced in the South Jersey section by a 12-1 total score, Livingston squeaked by their first three games by one goal and won their sectional final on penalty kicks by a 5-4 score.

The boys have not won a state championship since 1991 when the team shared the title with Harrison after a tie in the championship game. The team did lose in the state championship in 2007.  The CHS girls have three titles to their credit with all three coming from 1989-1991.

The game will kick off at 7:30 on Tuesday night at St. Augustine High School in Richland, NJ.

Michael Zelinka contributed to this article.