Opinion: GHS boys soccer team played the game like few others

This one hurt. There's no getting around it.

Gainesville soccer stood toe-to-toe with Woodward Academy on Saturday night in the boys Class AAA title game and watched some impressive early play and three great early scoring opportunities go begging.

At this level, great teams make you pay for not taking those kind of chances, and that's exactly what the War Eagles did -- thanks in large part to the large (and undeniably talented) frame of striker Cameron Moseley.

Woodward are worthy champions, but it stings because Gainesville showed it was capable of trading punches with the War Eagles for much of the contest at City Park.

I'll also freely admit that I felt plenty of disappointment for the outcome because of the way this Red Elephants' team plays the game.

I grew up playing soccer -- and still stubbornly refuse to let it go (even when my 34-year-old joints beg me to at least consider it). I also love watching the sport and -- most importantly -- watching it played well.

If any high school team ever played it well, certainly it was the 2012 Red Elephants.

The 2010 state champion Gainesville team played it well too -- as well as a number of other area teams I can count through the years, such as the 2009 West Hall boys and North Hall girls, the 2008 Flowery Branch boys, 2005 Gainesville boys and girls and Johnson boys, the 2011 Habersham Central boys, the current Flowery Branch girls and Lady Red Elephants... the list goes on.

Yet perhaps no other area team has played the game quite like the 2012 Gainesville boys.

Thanks to a midfield that excelled at the short passing game -- players always distributing and looking for a return ball or space to run into -- as well as a plethora of standouts comfortable with the ball at their feet, running at defenders and happy to make one or two look silly in the process, the Red Elephants resembled a blur of creative energy. But it was also a refined attack -- not just a flashy attempt to show off -- as seemingly every surge forward carried deadly purpose and precision.

It was simply fun to watch.

Gainesville also had plenty of steel to go along with the silk -- as the Red Elephants proved in their 2-1 semifinal win over St. Pius and for much of Saturday's championship game, trading body blows (sometimes literally) with Woodward. Despite being outsized in both of its final two contests of the season, Gainesville battled with the grit and determination that belied the usual panache that accompanied most of their victories.

And as much as I love to see the game played well, I may love witnessing dogged determination and a never-say-die attitude just as much.

Gainesville showed both in abundance this season, and because of that they attracted plenty of admirers -- City Park's stands on Saturday may have been as full as they have ever been for a high school soccer game.

It's a shame that the Red Elephants couldn't complete their quest for a second Class AAA title in three years, but soccer -- like any sport -- can be frustratingly fickle. Again, that's not to say Woodward didn't deserve it -- the War Eagles were physically imposing and clinical at key moments (two aspects that serve any team well in the playoffs). But it would have been a lot more fun to see Gainesville's skill persevere.

I've watched this sport long enough to know that pure skill often comes up short in the face of disciplined, determined defense (witness Chelsea FC's recent march through Barcelona and Bayern Munich en route to this year's Champions League victory). But I held out hope on Saturday that Gainesville's combination of skill and determination might carry the day. Unfortunately for the Red Elephants it was not to be -- and that's no shame against the ability of a team like Woodward.

Congratulations to the Gainesville boys on an incredible season, and thanks for providing this writer with a few moments of sheer delight watching the game.

-- Morgan Lee is sports editor for Access North Georgia.com