The team Chadwick coaches with Alex Pama won the United States Youth Soccer Championships in Phoenix last month, winning 3-1 against the Baltimore Stars in the finals. They played in temperatures in excess of 100 degrees before a crowd of 2,000-3,000, and played with electricity, he said.

The impetus was that after three years playing Lightning Soccer together, the men knew that they are all going their separate ways to college next year, he added. They also kept in mind that Georgia has never had a national soccer championship.

"We really made that our goal," Chadwick said.

The build up of wins throughout the regionals to the finals showcased the talents of McIntosh High School graduates, Ben Landis, national tournament MVP, Aaron Eutomoser and Justin Koehler, Fayette County High grads Matt Doggendorff and Roby Wood, and Griffin High grads Dustin Danner and Brantley Spillman. Landis was named tournament MVP and won the Adidas Golden Boot Award as the tourney's best offensive player.

It was an extraordinary goal over the defender's head by Stephen Williamson that opened up the game, Chadwick said.

"That really set the tone. From then on they just demoralized the other team. They were like punching bags for our team. They kept punching and punching, looking for that knock out punch. It's the best performance by a youth team I've ever seen," Chadwick said, adding that the play was so outstanding the team plans to sell tapes of the event.

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