School pride was high on November 19 when packs of students filled the stands at Willow Brook Park in New Britain to view the high school boys’ soccer team play in the State Championship game.

Boys’ soccer head coach Steve Waters headed into one of his many State Championship game appearances and did not leave empty-handed. The 3-0 victory over Shelton clinched his ninth State Championship and the program’s 12th state title.

The stands were filled by Farmington students, staff and former alumni. Students have been in attendance at every game like longtime fan senior Brian Buono.

“The boys outplayed each team in the tournament. They earned the gold, and as you can tell from the stands, I wasn’t the only one who believed that,” Buono said.

The Indians were set to play Danbury in the game until a late ineligibility disqualified the team from the tournament. Shelton, who was defeated by Danbury in the semi-finals, was given a second chance.

However, Shelton lost the match after junior striker Blake Rutenberg netted two first half goals and sophomore striker Nathan Hughes added an additional third goal.

“Playing on a team like this is one of the greatest experiences one will ever have. We deserved the win,” Rutenberg said.

Not only did the Indians win the game by three goals, but they did not allow Shelton to put a single point on the scoreboard. They became the first team to not allow a single goal during the State Tournament and only allowed three all goals season. These numbers say a great deal about the defenders for the Indians.

The success could be due to the experience within the senior-heavy defense, which was led by seniors Jared Nelson, Marshall Fillian and captains Joey Mihalek, Ian Thomas and Jordan Sicklick.

“It didn’t matter who we were playing in the finals, we were going to go out there and play our hardest to win the game. Our defense has been great all season and that led to confidence in our ability to win any game we played against any team,” Sicklick said.

The Indians (18-2-1) beat Amity, Darien, Staples, Fairfield Prep and Shelton by a combined score of 17-0. This spring, nine seniors from the team will graduate, leaving a gap in the program, but like years before, the underclassmen have the opportunity to rise to the occasion.