“Redemption” earned: Westminster OM avenges title game loss to St. Luke’s off Gamble goal
Published 8:37 am Thursday, May 8, 2025
A redemption goal from Aiden Gamble anchored a complete performance from Westminster OM as it avenged last season’s state title game loss to St. Luke’s Episcopal to win the Final Four battle of the top two 4A teams. (Reporter Photos/Andrew Simonson)
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By ANDREW SIMONSON | Sports Editor
HUNTSVILLE – A year ago at John Hunt Park as the Westminster School at Oak Mountain Knights faced the St. Luke’s Episcopal Wildcats for the Class 1A-3A boys soccer state championships, Aiden Gamble left the pitch with tears in his eyes.
In a tight match with a trophy on the line, a key shot from him that would’ve put his team up 2-0 ricocheted off the post. For a player who led Shelby County in goals in 2024, it was a miss that Westminster coach Cody Baxter said “haunted” Gamble for the next 51 weeks.
But that only made redemption all that much sweeter.
Gamble’s goal in the 52nd minute on the same spot of the very same field they faced St. Luke’s last year led to a trademark enthusiastic celebration from the senior striker.
It also provided the difference in a 1-0 win on Wednesday, May 7 in the Class 4A Final Four, sealing the win for the Knights in the battle of the top two teams in the classification.
“It’s credit to, honestly, something that we’ve built over the years,” Baxter said. “We’ve made sure that when we’re confronted with a bad situation or difficult situation, our response is, ‘Good, we get a chance to get better,’ ‘Good, we get a chance to improve. Good,’ And that’s what we had tonight. We had a strong opponent, and we knew it was going to be tough, and we said, ‘Good, we’ve got an opportunity to go after them,’ and we pushed through it.”
Before the breakthrough though, Westminster had to survive an early wave of offense from St. Luke’s.
The Wildcats fired off three key shots in the first 15 minutes, but the Knights stopped all three of them to preserve the scoreless tie.
Charlie Krulak then stepped up with chances in the 17th and 23rd minutes, but both efforts missed the target as the Westminster front line started working the attack.
The Knights got the better of the chances down the stretch in the first half. Owen Kelly’s 33rd minute shot went right of the goal, but it set up a pair of corner kicks along with an effort from Gamble that was saved.
Both teams went into the half tied up at 0-0. However, Westminster picked up right where it left off to end the half and started the second 40 minutes with more offensive chances.
A key cross in the 48th minute just missed the head of a Knight in the box, and two minutes later, Krulak fired another shot that went directly at the keeper.
The breakthrough came just minutes later though.
Making a break for the goal in the 52nd minute, Krulak found himself in the box with two choices, shoot or pass. He opted to pass to Gamble, who was crashing in out of nowhere from the left wing, and the UAH commit fired home the goal to send the traveling students into a frenzy and take a 1-0 lead.
Westminster kept pressing with a series of corners and shots. One of the bigger chances came from Gamble once again after he fired a direct free kick at the Wildcats keeper in the 65th minute.
St. Luke’s came within inches of equalizing in the 68th minute with a big shot on target. However, Knights keeper Sam Carter dove for the save, one of six on the night for him in a clean sheet, before his teammates cleared the second chance for a harmless throw-in.
The teams traded shots over the course of the next few minutes as Westminster sought for the dagger and the Wildcats sought for the equalizer.
Krulak had two of the better chances in a missed shot in the 74th minute and an opportunity in the box in the 79th minute that was very much like the opening goal. He went down untouched before he could find the crashing Gamble though.
Those chances and a big defensive push got the Knights over the line for the 1-0 win and into the state championship game.
After the game, Baxter said that he told his team throughout the opening minutes of the game to keep pushing and getting the ball to the people who can score the opening goal, which they did off Gamble’s goal.
“Just compete,” Baxter said of his message to the team at halftime. “We talked about making every 50-50 ball ours. We talked about not backing down. We talked about making sure that we could, when we did get the ball, connect and find feet and put it in the hands, or feet, of our playmakers. And eventually, they did get that chance tonight.”
Now, the Knights will play in the state championship game for the second-straight year, but this time, in a higher classification as they face the No. 10 Oneonta Redskins on Friday, May 9 at 2 p.m. at John Hunt Park for the 4A title.
While the No. 2 team in the classification is behind them, Baxter doesn’t want his team to lose focus from an Oneonta side that upset No. 5 Mars Hill Bible moments after Westminster’s game ended. He hopes that internal focus will prevent last year’s history of defeat in the title game from repeating itself.
“We’re going to keep that mindset of, at the end of the day, it doesn’t really matter who we play because we believe it’s you versus you. It’s us versus us,” Baxter said. “So, we need to go out there and compete and expect an extremely tough opponent, an extremely hostile atmosphere, and just (be) ready to compete.”
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