For the third time in school history, the Oakdale Bears are state champs in boys soccer. Head Coach Mitch Rubin led the Oakdale girls to the state title earlier in the decade and now he has done it with the boys team. This is a blue collar team that worked hard to achieve their goal hitting the weight room and doing long distance running beginning last winter. As team members Riley Daiger, Jack Brown and Daniel Ivanov gathered at the WFMD studios this week they agreed it all paid off in the end. The Oakdale Bears earned the 2A Championship this Fall with a series of close victories in the playoffs. There was the 1-0 win over Liberty in the 2A West Sectional semi final, then a 1-0 nail biter over Century in the Section Final. And then a tense 1-0 win over Walkersville in the Region Championship game. From there the Bears beat Kent Island in the state semifinals by , what else, a 1-0 score. And finally the big win in the State 2A Championship game against nationally ranked River Hill. The game ended in a 1 – 1 tie and was decided in a penalty kick shootout with Daniel Ivanov putting the winning shot into the upper right corner of the net. Coach Rubin is still smiling and part of the reason is Ivanov, Daiger and Brown are all Juniors and back next year along with a host of other underclassmen on the team. Relive the suspense of playoff soccer as the Oakdale boys respond to the pressure with another state championship to go with boy’s titles won in 2014 and 2015. Oakdale Soccer this Sunday (12/9) at 12:05 pm on 930 WFMD Radio, wfmd.com and the WFMD APP