John Walker ’29

Staples boys’ soccer Head Coach Liam Witham celebrates with team after the state championship win.

One hundred and ninety-two days ago, 12 Staples soccer players endured a 12-hour hearing for their former coach Russell Oost-Lievense. But today, the Wreckers made history, defeating Greenwich 3-0 to win their 13th state title and their first since 2009. This win cements the 2025 team as one of the all-time greats and only the seventh Staples boys’ soccer team to win the FCIAC Championship and the CIAC Championship and the first since 1982. 

After defeating Greenwich to secure the FCIAC title, the Wreckers set their sights on their state title run which started off on Halloween with a tough home game against FCIAC rival #29 Trumbull. The Wreckers dominated with 22 shots to Trumbull’s one, but they could only score once when Adriano Carpi ’26 scored a worldly goal from outside the box in the 32nd minute. 

The first round win against Trumbull advanced the Wreckers to round two against #13 Darien who’d beaten the #20 Norwalk Bears 5-0. These two teams previously met in a pummeling with the Wreckers walking out with a 4-0 win on Sept. 13 at Darien High School. However, this game went a little differently. Staples escaped with a 2-1 win off of goals from Greyson Downes ’27 and Gabe Duque ’26. Now the Wreckers were in the quarterfinals against another FCIAC team: #12 Ridgefield. 

Staples and Ridgefield have a storied rivalry across all sports and the Tigers were the team that eliminated the 2022 #1 seeded Staples team in states. However, the Wreckers were conscious that they had to put away their animosity. This game was a tense one with both teams trading back chances but after 72 minutes Staples star striker Adrian Rodriguez ’27 opened up the scoring and then added one more two minutes later to propel the Wreckers into a state semifinal match against old foes #9 Hall Titans. These two teams had previously met eight times in the CIAC tournament with Staples winning six, Hall winning one and a tie. The last time these two have met was in 2015 when Hall knocked out the Wreckers on penalties. 

Nov. 11. was a chilly night at Newtown High School with temps dipping to 35 degrees, but that didn’t stop the Wreckers from advancing to their first state championship in 16 years. The first half was unsatisfactorily for both teams with the Wreckers having six shots but no goals and the Titans not even registering a shot. After 17 minutes of play in the second half, Duque found Noah Rossoni ’27 to put the Wreckers in front and sending their bench into a frenzy. One minute later, Brendan Allen ’26 put a volley into the back of the net once again putting the bench into chaos. Ten minutes later, Adrian Rodriguez ’27 put the game to bed even though Hall would score one minute later it was too little too late. The Staples Wreckers were in the state championship, and they were playing a team they knew very well: #2 Greenwich Cardinals.  

These two teams had played twice this season. Once in the regular season when the Cardinals got the upper hand over the Wreckers with a 4-3 win that included three red cards. The second time these two met was in the FCIAC Championship when the Wreckers got their revenge in a 3-2 thriller. But those two results ceased to matter with the promise of a state title ahead. The Wreckers left the high school through a fun cheering tunnel from parents, but the players were all business. This was the biggest game of these players’ lives, and they knew they needed to focus to win. Two days prior, Staples soccer alum Kyle Martino ’99 posted a video to his Instagram with the United States national team head coach Maurico Pochettino wishing the Wreckers good luck. 

Trinity Health Stadium was rocking for the game with both schools’ student sections all standing against the fence of the field. The game was rowdy from the beginning with both sets of fans chanting trying to influence the game in any way. Staples had the first shot of the game in the 13th minute when Brendan Allen ’26 pushed a shot just right. The Wreckers would go in front three minutes later when captain Gabe Duque ’26 flew in and put a corner from Gabe Hellmann ’26, stunning the Cardinal Crazies and putting the Staples Superfans in a mania.

Greenwich would have two shots in the 26th and 27th minutes, but the Wreckers would double their lead in the 30th minute when fullback Dylan Shackelford ’26 jumped over his defender and headed a free kick from fellow defender Adriano Carpi ’26 into the back of the net. 

The Wreckers went into half time with that 2-0 lead which Staples had held over Greenwich in their previous two matchups. Greenwich came back in the first meeting, but Staples held on in the FCIAC championship. 

Greenwich came out firing to start the second half with two shots in the first eight minutes, but Staples matched that with two of their own. In the 62nd minute, Adrian Rodriguez ’27 went on a perfectly timed run and received a through pass from Noah Rossoni ’27 which Rodriguez slotted past the keeper to make it 3-0. This perfectly timed run made Greenwich head coach Kurt Puntam irate which he exquisitely showed while screaming at the ref for offsides. He’d been a headcase for the officials all game. Over the next 18 minutes, both teams had two shots, and then the final whistle was blown. Staples had won the 2025 CIAC boys’ Soccer State Championship and Greenwich’s perfect regular season record (16-0-0) turned into zero silverware.

After the FCIAC Championship against Greenwich, Staples assistant coach Billy Babayo focused on their revenge win, “We lost the battle when we played them in the [regular season]. We won the war today.” However after the state championship, he had a different message: “Don’t complain, don’t explain, just f*cking believe.”