BILLINGS — The Billings Senior girls are on top of the Class AA soccer world once again.
After 12 long years, the Broncs found their way back to the title game before dispatching Gallatin 2-1 in an absolute thriller.
“We wanted to show that the game that (Gallatin) beat us 4-0 didn't determine (the championship) game. You have the rule of thirds — there's a third of games that are going to turn out bad and not be how you want it to be, so we just came to show that that game meant nothing to us and we were confident we were going to win," Billings Senior forward Meadow Mahlmeister said.
"We came in hungry for it. It's kind of like an icebreaker, hopefully the start of a streak and we can go and win it again next year."
Billings Senior girls celebrate 'icebreaker' State AA soccer title
Senior grabbed a lead early in the second half against the Raptors, but Gallatin tied it with just 2:19 remaining. Then Mahlmeister delivered a goal nine seconds later that will live on in Senior lore.
“It's just all the hard work that I've put in — offseason, preseason, postseason — If you work that hard, the pressure, it's not there. You're just confident as long as you keep working at it. After they scored I was like, 'Just give me the ball,' and I took it," Mahlmeister said.
For the Broncs to withstand Gallatin’s constant pressure throughout the game was one thing, but to instantly respond when adversity hit showed that Senior possessed the heart of a champion.
“It's something we had to learn the second time we played Gallatin and something that this team figured out, and we had to figure out quickly — don't quit. You can't quit because we know that we can be on top," Senior coach Stephanie Wagner said.
The Broncs will try and run it back next season as they hope it isn’t 12 years between championship appearances again.
