By Lucas Sullivan for the Springfield News-Sun

COLUMBUS — Greeneview fans were lined up outside Columbus Crew Stadium two hours before their Rams took on Youngstown Cardinal Mooney on Friday, wearing face paint, cutup soccer balls for helmets and hopes for the school’s first ever state title.

Some five hours later, in what was one of the biggest sporting events associated with the small town in rural Greene County, the Rams rewarded the 1,000-strong throng of fans with a 1-0 win in a shootout over the Cardinals in the Division III state finals. Greeneview earned the win with a 3-1 advantage in penalty kicks.

Some fans wore muscle-man costumes, others homemade banners turned into shirts that read, “We’re perfect. So what do you think you’re going to do”

“They were unbelievable,” Rams coach Bob Eakins said. “They’ve been like this ever since we beat Catholic Central for the district title.”

Though the Cardinals came from a much larger town, Greeneview fans outnumbered them at least two to one. And every time Mooney fans got even a little rowdy, a sea of red and blue drowned them out like a tidal wave.

Even OHSAA Commissioner Dan Ross was impressed.

“This is great,” Ross told a group of colleagues. “I can’t believe they brought that many people. What a turnout”

For the Rams, the title completes a school-record 23-0 season that Eakins said he had predicted in June.

“You can ask (assistant) coach (Terry) Gill, I said back in June we could do this,” Eakins said. “We looked at our schedule and thought it was possible.”

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