For South, its 3-1 boys soccer win over Kenai Central in the state championship match was the culmination of a year of hard work after losing 1-0 to Dimond in the championship last season.
For the South seniors, it was the also a fitting end to more than a decade of playing soccer together.
"I've been playing with the seniors since I was 5 or 6 years old," said Britton Clifford, who scored the Wolverines' first goal eight minutes into the second half. "We started soccer together. It's really great to come and play with them for 11, 12 years and end on a win.
"I really think last year's (loss) really fueled us for this year."
The game was scoreless until South finally penetrated Kenai Central's signature defensive style when Clifford smacked in a deep goal on a deflection eight minutes into the second half.
"It bounced out to me right at the top of the box, and my first though was, 'I need to shoot this,' " Clifford said. "Then I hit it and it felt pretty good, and I looked up and it just nicked of someone's arm.
"I was about to shout for a handball because you want to take what you can, but it ended up in the back of the net."
The Wolverines scored two more goals late in the match when Kenai Central switched to attack mode and opted for an extra forward.
On the second goal, Andrew DePaepe took the ball into the box on the right side and sent a perfect cross to Noah Johnson, who tapped in the easy goal. Johnson fed DePaepe for the third goal five minutes later.
Kenai Central's Zack Tuttle scored the Kardinals' only goal in the closing minutes once South had all its reserves on the field.
Kenai Central didn't win, but the trip to the championship match came with some merit. The Kardinals were the first team from the Kenai Peninsula to make it to a soccer state title game.
"No peninsula team (had) ever made a final before, boys or girls side, since the tournament started, so it meant a lot to us reaching this game," Kenai Central coach Joel Reemtsma said. "Having said that, we came to win and we knew that it would be a climb, but we believed we could do it and we believe we could have done it.
"South outplayed us … (Our) guys gave everything they had."
Reemtsma also said the Kardinals fielded a young team this season, so they should be a force again next season.
"The nice thing for me is almost all these kids are sophomores," Reemtsma said. "We firmly believe we can be back in this game next year."