Maize South boys soccer wins back-to-back Kansas high school state championships
Hours after his life had changed with a second championship secured, Maize South senior Caden Wait still couldn’t believe he almost didn’t go.
On the fateful free kick Wait ultimately finished off to cement his place in history, the center back was originally planning on hanging behind Vitor Geromel, who was taking aim from 30 yards out with the score tied in the final minutes of the Class 5A state championship match against Blue Valley Southwest on Saturday.
At the last second, Blue Valley Southwest decided to call its last forward, who Wait was marking, into the box to bolster its defense for the set piece.
“I figured I might as well go up too,” said Wait, who didn’t think much of it when he trotted into the box.
After all, Geromel had the green light to shoot from distance and his teammates fully expected the all-time Kansas high school goals leader to deliver yet another stroke of genius with his right foot after he had found the net for the 130th time in his career earlier in the match.
In a stroke of luck, Geromel’s screamer was deflected by BV Southwest’s four-player wall, taking a ricochet off a shoulder, floating in the box just in front of the goalkeeper and somehow finding the exact location of Wait.
With so much top-spin created by the deflection, it wasn’t an easy ball to redirect with his head. But Wait made solid enough contact to where it bounced around the goalkeeper, then took an almost 90-degree turn left just inside the goalpost for what became the game-winning goal in Maize South’s 2-1 victory to claim its second straight state title.
Wait has scored before on set pieces, so scoring a goal wasn’t unfathomable. But doing so in that moment was.
“Talking to Caden after the game, he made it very clear that this was better than he could have ever dreamed of,” Maize South coach Rey Ramirez said. “It’s the most rewarding thing for me as a coach to see it happen to a kid like Caden Wait, who has been about as important as any other player on our team and is the best center back in our program’s history. I think everybody in our program realizes that, but now this is finally one of those moments where everybody else can know it too.”
It was an emotional moment between Geromel and Wait, who have been friends and soccer teammates since the first grade.
“That was such a cool moment because I’ve grown up with Caden since we were playing soccer together at recess,” said Geromel, a Clemson commit. “He’s a guy who I’ve trained with every day. He’s been such a great leader for this team and for him to get the game-winner and to have that moment, it’s so special.”
During Maize South’s three-year run with this loaded senior class, which ended with three straight state finals appearances and the school’s first two state trophies, the attack garnered most of the attention with Geromel, Miles Edwards, Spencer Rich and Nick Emes.
But the backbone to a 41-1 record the last two seasons has been the team’s stout defense, captained by Wait with fellow seniors Dylan Gorman and Brock Ellis on either side of him.
While their work in the back didn’t always make the highlight reel, Wait said he has always felt appreciated on the team — long before he became a hero on Saturday.
“I would say I always feel like I’m in the spotlight because my team really does a great job of bringing me up,” Wait said. “Scoring that goal felt amazing, but it’s nothing different than the way these guys make me feel all the time.”
What made Wait’s goal even more dramatic was the fact that it came less than 90 seconds after BV Southwest had just leveled the game on a penalty kick of its own, finished by Crew Alvarez.
The celebration from the BV Southwest section had barely quieted by the time Wait found the back of the net to swing the game’s momentum.
“This was truly an emotional and tear-jerking experience,” Ramirez said. “As happy as we have been every single second of this weekend, in the back of our minds and our hearts, there’s also a bit of sadness because we know this was the last game with this group. The only thing we wish is that we had one more year together. It’s a good lesson to enjoy these special moments in life while they last because nothing lasts forever.”
On the three-hour bus ride home from Spring Hill, the players blasted music and sang along to songs after becoming the first Wichita-area team to repeat with Class 5A titles in state history.
They had just forged a lifelong memory together one last time on the soccer field and they made another one on that bus ride home.
“We worked so hard for this and we deserved it, but we could only hope and pray things would go our way,” Geromel said. “We’re thankful to go out on top, but really, it was the only right way for us to go out. This is what we dreamed of.”
KSHSAA boys soccer state results
Class 6A (in Topeka)
1st: Olathe East 1, Shawnee Mission West 0
3rd: Washburn Rural 2, Dodge City 1
Class 5A (in Spring Hill)
1st: Maize South 2, Blue Valley Southwest 1
3rd: Salina South 3, St. Thomas Aquinas 2 (OT)
Class 4A (in Wichita)
1st: Bishop Miege 5, Bishop Ward 2
3rd: Trinity Academy 2, McPherson 0
This story was originally published November 6, 2023 at 6:00 AM.
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