Watkins' determination provided winning spark for LCS

The state championship appeared to be slipping away.

Delray Beach American Heritage had just scored to take a 2-1 lead, and the Vikings, as they admitted, were playing on their heels for the past 30 minutes.

They needed a spark, something or someone to change the momentum.

Up stepped senior Ramsey Watkins.

LCS coach Jason Streets had Eden Guynn hold down the fort at center back with Gretchen Caswell coming in to replace Watkins, who moved to midfield. The Stallions never knew what hit them.

“Ramsey was not losing this,” Streets said. “You could just see it in her — and Eden. And Katie Carnes, I’ll bet Katie ran 6 miles. She was all over the field. You could see the resilience and fight.”

Indeed.

Watkins brought passion, energy, will, hunger, determination and a certain je ne sais quoi that allowed the Vikings to tilt the field and begin to dominate again en route to their 4-2 victory.

It didn't necessarily have to be her. Her teammates also have that passision, but in a big game, it had to come from a senior leader. Defenders and forwards really aren't in the position to tilt the field. That needs to come from a midfielder, so when Watkins got the chance, she seized the moment. It was the right combination of talent and heart at the right time.

The stat sheet shows that Watkins had one assist, which came on Carnes' tying goal. What it doesn't show is how Watkins' play in the midfield helped put the Vikings back on the attack for the rest of the game.

Her teammates fed off that intensity, and LCS became an overwhelming force the rest of the game.

“When we flipped it and put Gretchen (Caswell) at center back and put Ramsey in the midfield, it put so much pressure on them,” Streets said. “They were not ready for that. We went to a three front at that point and spread them out, we were able to put pressure on them.”

It really shouldn't have been a surprise that LCS went on to win. The signs were there — not just for Watkins but the seniors in general — long before this year.

You have to go back to the 2017 playoffs when the seniors were in the eighth grade, a year in which Carnes, Guynn, Watkins and Jayden Bayes were the Vikings leading goal-scorers after junior Mary Peace. 

There might have been other games, but one specifically stands out.

Lakeland Christian played Vero Beach St. Andrew's in the regional semifinals and won 3-0. 

The stats show that Carnes, Guynn and Bayes combined for two goals and two assists.

What they don't show was a battle that consistently took place on the field. 

Watkins, who's stronger now but still isn't that much bigger than she was in the eighth-grade, consistently battled in the midfield with a player who had at least four inches on her and about 30 pounds.

The player tried to use her size advantage to push Watkins off the ball and win 50-50 balls.

Watkins was having none of it. Time after time, the two players battled and time after time, Watkins inevitably came away with the ball.

It was the marriage of talent plus will.

Without the talent, Watkins wouldn't have had the skill to win those battles despite her intensity. But without that drive and determination, talent wouldn't have been enough.

Talent and determination permeated the entire team and was the winning formula for the Vikings' title run.

When Lakeland Christian went down 2-1, it could have been deflating. Especially for the seniors, thoughts like, "Oh no, here we go again, another runner-up finish," could have crept into their heads.

They could have played scared, tentative or panicky.

Are you kidding? Not this group.

“I knew the key of it was our mentality and keeping our head in it if we got down and just knowing we could come back,” Carnes said. “I had faith in us that we would put it in and tie it up.”

Forget about that saying, don't get mad, get even. The Vikings played with an angry intensity and got even — and then more than even.

It started with Watkins. Her drive and determination provided that last spark that allowed LCS to capitalize on the hard work of the entire team and regain control of the game.

“My gut feeling was that this isn’t over,” Watkins said. “I didn’t start panicking. I just knew exactly what we needed to do to win the game, and that was to win every ball.”

In the end, Watkins gave what LCS needed to win the state title, a trophy Watkins coveted as much as anyone. 

Her desire for the trophy cascaded out during the postgame celebration and she had a vice-like grip on the trophy, just like she had on the district and regional trophies, both of which ended up at her house.

Watkins lost her hold of the trophy during the postgame picture taking. But if LCS officials can't find the trophy, I think I know where they should look.

And good luck getting it back.

Roy Fuoco can be reached at roy.fuoco@theledger.com.