Fatima boys’ soccer coach Kelley-Marie Wibberg fought to keep her emotions in check after Monday’s 3-2 double-overtime loss to Crocker in the Class 1, District 4 championship game at Westphalia.

“I am so proud of the boys,” she said. “Coming into the season, there was a lot of speculation on what the season was going to look like. We didn’t know a lot of things. We were coming in blind. We lost a lot of players and had a lot of injuries to start the season. I asked a lot of the boys from early practices to practices in the rain, and they showed up. I don’t think I could be any prouder of them if I wanted to be. I set the bar high, and they exceeded it.”

Striker Peter Schwartz led the charge once again, scoring both goals in Monday’s loss, each coming in the first half.

“Peter is a very aggressive forward,” said Wibberg. “Tonight, he was punched in the face and has a black eye, which seemed to slow him down a little bit.”

The play in question came when Schwartz approached the goalie with an opportunity to score. In the process of playing for the ball, Crocker’s goalie accidentally took a swipe that landed.

Wibberg noted that Crocker’s defense prevented Fatima from being too comfortable. “They swarm like bees to honey around the ball,” she said. “It was so hard to break up. And the strikers, Trevor, Richie, and Peter, gave us more than I could have asked for. Not only were they looking to score goals, but they were coming back, helping out in midfield. They’re helping out our defense. They’re making plays happen. You don’t see a lot of strikers doing that. Most strikers are just hanging out on the back line, waiting to pitch a ball in, and that’s it. But they met the team. Trevor has stepped up big time, helping out with the mental load. All of our seniors, Trevor, Richie, and Tyler, are going to be hard to replace.”

The coach added that Richard Luebbert doesn’t get as much flash and flame as some of the other players.

“He’s not saving goals; he’s not scoring goals, but he’s making the middle happen,” said Wibberg. “Richard is covering that neutral zone. He’s filling the places he needs to be; if someone gets out of position, he’s picking that up. He’s kind of like a team dad. He reminds them that we’re all a team. If someone’s getting mad, he says, ‘Hey, I get it. Take a breath. Let’s work on this together.” That is going to be a hard spot to fill next year — someone to be that guy, to hold the team together.”

Leading 2-0 at the half on Monday, Fatima worked hard to maintain the advantage. However, Crocker, the top seed in the district, found the net once on a cross and another that caromed off a Fatima player.

Wibberg is pleased with the team’s conditioning. “A lot of people think about the physicality when it comes to sports,” she said. “With soccer, you’re asking a lot out of these guys. You’re asking them to run as hard as they can for 80 minutes. They did more than that. They gave us over 100 minutes, and at that point, it became mental. You can’t hang your head too long because then the ball’s getting past you. It’s about being mentally locked in, holding your teammates up before the game started.”

In every district game, the boys played for something. In the first game against Dixon, the Comets played for parents and grandparents. Wibberg said the guys wanted to pay homage to those who provided their first cleats, drove them to all the practices, picked up shin guards last-minute, and myriad other things that go into parenting a student-athlete.

“I told the boys, ‘You’re playing for the little boy that started playing soccer, whether you started playing at 4, or 12, or like Trevor, who just joined us here, in the high school years,’” said Wibberg. “They did way more than ever asked.”

Since Michael Sesti vacated his goalkeeper’s position due to injury, Paden Luebbert has stepped up big time.

“After we moved Michael and Paden went to goal, we pushed our center out to the wing,” said Wibberg. “I think at some point, everybody thought I was losing my mind. They’re like, this old lady doesn’t know what she’s doing. And then it worked out. Colton (Scheulen) has turned in the most assists for the season. Paden has stepped up. He came in as a kid last year who wanted nothing to do with playing goal. He said, ‘Don’t train me. I don’t want to be here. I should be in the field.’ We went head-to-head his freshman year training for goalie. He didn’t want to be there. He came up this year, and he said, ‘Coach, I got what you need.’ And I said, ‘Yeah, okay, I’ll probably never need you.’ But here we are. He’s played goal the last month of the season and made saves that I didn’t think I’d ever see. The kid’s just remarkable, and he’s still got two seasons to go.”

Schwarz also scored all of Fatima’s goals in Thursday’s 4-1 semifinal win over Dixon. R. Luebbert, Scheulen, and Schulte each had an assist, and P. Luebbert counted 13 saves against Dixon.

Fatima ended the year with a 9-11 record.