Right before the kickoff of the girls Class 3A soccer state championship match Saturday afternoon at Scottsdale Coronado High School, a chant of “1-2-3 for Alec” that came from Gilbert Christian's huddle was heard around the stadium.

The Knights’ girls were summoning Marine Sgt. Alec Langen, the husband of assistant coach Casey Orellana, son-in-law to head coach Hector Orellana and brother-in-law to senior midfielder Daniella Orellana.

The Marine Sgt. died in a helicopter training accident in California along with four other servicemen on Feb. 6th.

Well, the chant also could have been “1-2-3-4, thanks Alec.”

That’s because from the opening kick, No. 1 seeded Gilbert Christian worked at a speed several levels faster than No. 7 Safford, allowing them to score just over five minutes into the contest, then three more times in very short order.

And just like that, the Knights held a commanding 4-0 enroute to a lopsided 8-0 mercy rule contest.

The title is the second in school history for the Knights, who capped a perfect season at 16-0.

“It’s been a difficult ride. I feel like I’m in a dream. Not so much a dream but a nightmare,” Hector continued, “It’s been a crazy week, just to see your daughter go thru all of this.”

“That’s the thing about sports, it gives us a distraction,” Hector added.

And what a distraction it was.

Led by hat tricks from Caprice Chiuchiolo and Mila Russo, the Knights poured it on early, giving the Bulldogs little hope of getting back into the contest just a little over 16 minutes in.

The junior Chiuchiolo opened the scoring with a goal at the 34:44 mark. Senior Jaidyn Wilson then got in the scoring column less than two minutes later.

That's when the Russo show took center stage.

The freshmen tallied two more quick goals for Gilbert Christian, and suddenly the lead over Safford ballooned to 4-0 with 29:32 still remaining in the half.

The four goals came within an incredible 5:12 minute span.

Russo’s third tally of the half at 23:37, capped a beautiful sequence that saw two consecutive passes from Orellana to Chiuchiolo, who then fed Russo in front for the finisher.

A pair of goals by Chiuchiolo in the second half sandwiched a goal by Danielle that made it 7-0 at the time. Chiuchiolo’s final goal with 17:04 left to play ended the game and set off the bittersweet celebration.

“We knew what adjustments we needed to make against a team we never played. We knew we needed to finish it early,” Russo explained.

As for Casey, a former Gilbert Christian soccer player in her own right, she had a brief moment to smile after the victory while reflecting on her late husband.

“He loved these girls as much as I love these girls, and I know he is right here celebrating with them,” she said.

And what about the moment during the game when a helicopter passed over in the distance?

“That was him. That was him in spirit,” she insisted.

Based on the outcome, nobody could even doubt it.