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(Jeff Pejsa, AFC Cleveland)

MIKE PETICCA

Special to The Plain Dealer

INDEPENDENCE, Ohio -- Another championship game and another celebration for a Cleveland team.

The final whistle blew and the AFC Cleveland Royals streamed toward goalkeeper Anthony Flowers. Then, many in the standing-room crowd of 2,205 at Independence High School followed gleefully onto the field, hailing the Royals for their 4-2 win over the Sonoma County Sol in the National Premier Soccer League national championship game.

AFC stands for "A Fan's Club." And the Royals' fans sensed title when Antonio Manfut's goal put Cleveland up, 3-2, with about eight minutes left.

The Royals' Tom Beck, from Cleveland State, was about 15 yards to the left of the Sol net and near the back line when he passed a few yards directly behind him to Manfut.



The 21-year-old Manfut is an Akron St. Vincent-St. Mary High School graduate like LeBron James, who led the Cavaliers to their NBA championship over the Golden State Warriors. The southern edge of Sonoma County is about a 40-minute drive north of the San Francisco-Oakland Bay area.

Then Manfut drilled the game-winner to the left of Sol goalie Sean Taufer.

"Me and Beck had been playing together well," Manfut said as the trophy presentations began. "He beat his guy and laid it back to me. I got it off to the far post and it deflected off the post and in. .... I've got to get with my teammates!"



Ryder Bell clinched the win with four minutes to go, scoring on a breakaway from 15 yards.



The Royals, in their fifth NPSL season, finished 12-2 overall, including four playoff wins. To earn this victory, they had to overcome 1-0 and 2-1 Sol leads, both times tying the game on goals by Vinny Bell, of Valley Forge High School and Case Western Reserve University. Bell was named Player of the Game.



"It means a lot to do this with these guys," said Royals second-year coach Carter Poe, 26, who is also the head coach of the Mount Union College men's team. "We have a lot of players who have been under-rated, great players who maybe don't get the respect they deserve.

"We knew if we hung in there, we'd get chances. We have so many good attacking players. We hung in there defensively and continued to attack."

Sonoma County (12-5-2) got the game's first goal from Taylor Varnadore in the 15th minute. Varnadore, stationed about 15 yards from the Cleveland net and in the middle of the field, fielded the first pass off a corner kick and immediately headed a shot inside the right post. Flowers had no chance to deny the perfectly executed play.

Bell and Beck had already created a couple of scoring opportunities for the Royals, and then finished one in the 31st minute of the half, tying the game, 1-1.



Beck sped some 25 yards down the left side with a dribble and then fed Bell, sprinting directly ahead of him. Bell caught up to the pass deep into the left side of the box, then maneuvered around Sol defenders to the right side of the net. From there, he drilled a shot inside the left post, well beyond the reach of Taufer.



"Any time your team goes down, that 'fight or flight' kicks in and something happens," said Bell, who was the first player signed by the Royals five years ago. "Even when we went down, we knew we'd get our chances. We knew if we would be patient, we'd be in good shape.



"It's amazing to go through five years and finally cap it off like this. It's been a fun journey."



Varnadore and Bell again exchanged goals in the second half for a 2-2 tie.

Varnadore put the Sol ahead again in the 59th minute, converting from five yards in the middle of the box by grounding a shot inside the left post.

The Royals caught up four minutes later. David Jordan (Mentor High, University of Akron) placed a corner kick in the middle of the box. Bell gained control of the ball and tapped it home from about eight yards.

Poe was a Royals captain in the team's first two seasons (2012-13) before a knee injury ended his playing career.