Eight the Great: Shawnee boys capture program’s eighth state title

A pair of goals four minutes apart late in the first half was enough for Shawnee to bring home their 8th state title in boys soccer on Sunday with a 2-0 win over Randolph in the Group 3 championship.

The win capped a season of complete dominance for both Shawnee teams, which began the month celebrating their South Jersey Coaches Cup titles. Though the boys didn’t have a perfect record, they finished the season with 10 straight wins after their second loss of the year to Cherokee in late October.

“We were working toward it, we had come real close the last couple years with losses in the sectional championships,” head coach Ryan Franks said. “To get over the hump I think it meant even more to me and the guys who were part of it because we know what it’s like to come up short.”

Franks, who won the state title as a player with Shawnee in 2001, celebrated his first state title as a head coach and the school’s first since 2006. The Renegades lost the sectional final to Clearview in 2023 and to Cherry Hill West in penalties in 2022 and fell on penalties in the 2022 South Jersey Coaches Cup to Haddon Township.

“These guys have been in a lot of battles over the last couple years,” Franks said. “It was really rewarding to see these guys and the emotion that they put into it; you could see it all over their faces at the end of the game.”

Senior Jacob Santamaria opened the scoring in the 35th with a finish in the box off a saved free kick from Danny Williams. Senior Sean McFadden set up the dead ball drawing a foul and a yellow card 30 yards from goal. McFadden then set up Williams with a short pass and Williams did the rest to place a shot out of reach of the keeper and double the advantage with under a minute left in the half.

The two-goal advantage proved to be more than enough in the second half as the Renegades put the finishing touches on the second state title in soccer for the school in as many days.

“Drew was the assistant coach with the boys when I won it as a player so we won it together,” Franks said. “He’s a great guy and a great coach so to see him come through the day before I was so happy for him but it definitely put the pressure on us to go do it and follow up. It just is a special soccer community and to have both of us win in the same year is really cool.”