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Vince Drake Gets Last Chance at Trinity Catholic’s First State Title
By Jim Wieners
For 47 years Vince Drake was coaching High School Soccer beginning at St. Thomas Aquinas High School in 1968 and will finish Saturday, June 6, for Trinity Catholic High School at Blue Springs High School.
Drake will take the Trinity Girls Soccer Team Friday, June 5, for a 2 p.m. Class One Semifinal against Father Regional Catholic High School, based in Columbia, Mo., which started building in 2010 and opened in 2011. This will be Trinity’s third semifinal appearance after finishing second in 2009 and 2010 while Tolton is making their first state semifinal appearance.
Before 19-6 Trinity and 17-4 Tolton meet Saxony Lutheran (22-2) plays Barstow (15-2-2) at 12 Noon in the other Friday Class One Semifnal. Winners will play for their first State Girls Soccer Title Saturday at approximately 1 p.m. while the losers play in the Third Place Game at around 9 a.m.
Saxony Lutheran, located off Interstate 55 in Jackson and near Cape Girardeau, was organized in 1988 by the Lutheran Church Missouri Synod and is playing in their first semifinal game. Barstow, based in Kansas City at the Missouri-Kansas state line, played in the 2010 semifinal, won by Trinity, and finished fourth but the Boys team just won state in November, 2014. None of the players on all four of their current teams have made it to the final four.
Drake, a 1964 Mercy Graduate, spent his time at Aquinas, which merged with Mercy in 1984, and later merged with arch-rival Rosary in 2003 to form Trinity, using the now former Rosary High building that was built and opened in 1961. The Mercy grounds in University City is now a shopping center and the Aquinas campus is now North County Christian School.
Drake coached Aquinas-Mercy to 11 Boys State Soccer titles, the last nine coming after the schools merged. Drake’s first title, and Aquinas’, came in the fall of 1975, eight months after McCluer North won their first in the final year as a winter sport. Drake’s second title, 1977, was shared with Bishop DuBourg, his third was a Class 4A title in 1985, the first multi-class year and the last eight were in Class 1A-3A begining in 1988 and his last was in 1998.
Drake coached the Aquinas-Mercy Girls to the 1987 state title and has also coached all six Trinity Soccer teams that made the state finals only to settle for second place. That includes Boys Class Two in 2003, 2005 and 2011 and Class One in 2008, with the 2005 and 2011 teams losing to undefeated Priory. Drake was also the Trinity Athletic Director and he will be succeded after retiring by Baseball coach Dan Grumich.
No Trinity team has won state and only the Soccer teams made the state finals.
The road to the state semifinals included playing only two games in the last 19 days of May while a third game that was to be played May 19 ended up as a forfeit win over Northwest Academy of Law. As a result Trinity played and defeated visiting Crosssroads College Prep 6-0 May 21 for the Class One, District Three title thanks to three Morgan Clark goals and two assists each form Kierstyn Weaver and Erika Douglas. Trinity stayed home for the May 30 Quarterfinal and defeated Whitfied 1-0 on a Melanie Gubicya goal.
