LEXINGTON — Chalk one up for the “dumbest smart guys.”

Decimated by injuries all season, the St. Xavier High School soccer team persevered and beat host Lafayette, 1-0, on Saturday in the championship match of the state tournament in front of 1,485 fans.

The Tigers lost senior midfielder Alvaro Gonzalez to injury before the season started and saw top scorer Stone Work sustain a season-ending injury in the Seventh Region final. Gonzalez was a first-team All-State pick last year, and Work earned the honor this season.

“They’re the dumbest smart guys I know,” Tigers coach Andy Schulten said. “They’re so super intelligent, but they don’t realize that teams don’t suffer losses like that and continue to win.

“Credit our guys. There are guys on that field that nine months ago I never would have expected to play (an) integral role. … They just don’t want to disappoint each other.”

Top-ranked St. Xavier (24-3-3) won its record 16^th state championship and first since 2020. Saturday’s victory came a year after the Tigers fell to Paul Dunbar, 1-0, after a penalty-kick shootout in the state final.

“We fell hard last year, and this was our chance to shine,” senior Beckham Murrow said. “It was in the back of our minds all season, and we just wanted to come out on top this year. We had the passion … and we were able to finish the job this year.”

Murrow played a big role, scoring Saturday’s only goal in the 14^th minute.

Frankie Klein made a long throw-in from the left side into the box. After a header and a deflected shot, Murrow got possession and fired in a shot from 18 yards for a 1-0 lead.

Schulten said Klein’s ability to make long throws has been an asset all season.

“It’s real simple: Get in there, win the header and then clean something up,” Schulten said. “We’ve been on Beckham the last three or four games, ‘Stay wide. Stay wide in case it comes out.’ He was perfectly placed, and he hit a beautiful shot.”

St. Xavier’s defense took care of things from there and posted its 13^th clean sheet of the year.

The back line of Patrick Hester, Gavin Yearwood, Liam Eisner and Klein made things easy for goalkeeper Ben Howard, who had to make just one save.

“They really didn’t get much through us there,” Schulten said. “And when they did, it was a little bit wide and at some bad angles.”

Senior Maxwell Newman, the top of the defense at center midfielder, earned tournament MVP honors.

“We go into a game, and we know we’re not going to get scored on,” Newman said. “Playing smart and playing as a team.”

No. 4 Lafayette (20-4-1) — the 1990 state champion — suffered a big blow in the first half when senior Sawyer Trowel was injured after a hard tackle. He did not return.

Coach Chris Grimm called Trowel his team’s “top player.”

“A lot of what we do is based around him because he’s so freaking good back there,” Grimm said. “That was a moment that could have been, ‘Oh, man. Today’s not our day.’ … The mentality of this group was just push, push, push and continue to fight and continue to compete.”

Schulten improved to 12-2 in state finals but admitted he thinks about the losses as much as the victories.

“I wish it was 14-0,” said Schulten, who was a sophomore on the St. Xavier team that lost to Trinity, 3-1, in the 1984 state final.

Grimm said the Tigers were a reflection of Schulten.

“They competed really, really hard,” Grimm said. “The officiating was letting a lot of stuff go today. To St. X’s credit, they were like, ‘All right. We’re going to play really physical and make the other team have to match our physicality.’ They competed at such a high level.”

MVP – Maxwell Newman (St. Xavier)

All-tournament team – Ben Howard, Beckham Murray (St. Xavier); Javier Torres, Sawyer Trowel, Tomas Castro (Lafayette); Landon Barth, Chris Maraduaga (Ryle); Hayden Stewart, Julian Warfield (McCracken County); Jack Griffith (Ashland Blazer); Tanner Broyles (North Laurel); Conner Johnson (Daviess County); Trey McCoomer (DeSales).

More: Trinity boys take KHSAA cross-country state championship team title for 3A; 2A, A results

Reach Jason Frakes at jfrakes@courier-journal.com and follow him on X @kyhighs.

This article originally appeared on Louisville Courier Journal: KHSAA soccer: St. Xavier defeats Lafayette to win state championship