It’s all over at the Home Depot Center.

The final game of 2010’s USSF Development Academy Finals week featured perpetual underdog Vardar defeating a high-powered Crossfire Premier team Saturday night.

While it is obviously a triumph for the Vardar club, it’s also a boon for the Midwest region as a whole. With Vardar’s win, an amazing five out of six total Development Academy champions (including the U15/16 Chicago Fire this year) have come from the Midwest.

Whether it’s brains, brawn, or a hard-working, blue-collar attitude that got the job done, one thing is clear: it will be hard for any team from the Midwest to be the “dark horse” candidate in the coming years.

Here’s how Vardar conquered the Development Academy Saturday night.

Vardar 3 – 1 Crossfire Premier

It took a little while for both teams to settle in and get the ball rolling on the ground, but when they did, it was Crossfire Premier that struck first.

As they have so well all year, Crossfire strikers Kelyn Rowe and Liam Kelly combined on a series of crisp passes that ended with Rowe finding Kelly a step ahead of his marker 12 yards from goal – a distance from which he is lethal – and Kelly slotted it home to give Crossfire an early lead in the 12th minute.

Crossfire was very effective stretching the field sideline to sideline early on, where central midfielder Louis Schott, winger Jose Garibay, Rowe and Kelly made Vardar’s back line look unusually vulnerable. Vardar center backs Joseph Dillon and Zachary Carroll were under constant pressure and struggled to gain possession, repeatedly forced to blast the ball safely up-field.

If anything, though, Vardar is known for their resiliency and scrappy play, and they have shown they don’t necessarily need to be in control of a game to steal a goal.

They were able to do just that when, against the grain of play, forwards Ezekiel Harris and Peter Jacobson got the best of a scrum in front of the Crossfire goal, and after several failed clearances, Jacobson snuck in to grab the equalizing goal in the 29th minute of play.

But after an momentary emotional boost Vardar got from the goal, Crossfire reorganized and continued streaking forward on the attack.

In the last ten minutes of the half, Schott, Garibay, Rowe and Kelly combined to test Vardar goalie Jonathan Jebson with at least five dangerous shots on goal.

The chances came on a variety of plays: whether it was a picture-perfect counterattack led by Rowe or one-touch triangle passes between Schott, Garibay and Kelly in very tight space, going into halftime, the Vardar defense was feeling the heat.

But after intermission, a totally different Vardar unit stepped on the field.

Wingers Miche’le Lipari and Zach Schwee pushed aggressively up the flank, cutting defenders up one-on-one and stretching the Crossfire defense wide open. Jacobson and central midfielder Caleb Stanko became electric, drawing defenders in and making simple, precise passes to open teammates or dashing forward one-on-one.

After a full half hour of playing perfect attacking football, though, Vardar had no more than a single goal to show for it, and the game looked destined for overtime.

That’s when Ezekiel Harris changed it all, with the hustle play of the game.

In the 74th minute, a through ball from Vardar’s Miche’le Lipari rolled precariously through the Crossfire defense, and goalkeeper Andrew Weakley charged off his line to collect it. With a sudden burst, Harris stretched and poked the ball past Weakley and, at full speed and a near-impossible angle, tried to slide the ball between the poles. It ricocheted off the near post, and holding midfielder Derek Schrauben was there to head it home for the go-ahead score.

Minutes later, Vardar’s size and hustle again came into play. A broken play brought a high ball dropping into goalkeeper Weakley’s area, but as he went up with hands high to bring it in, Vardar’s Zachary Carroll went up with him, and the ball ended up at the far post, where Schrauben had the amazing knack to head it in, again, to increase the lead to an insurmountable 3-1 in the 77th minute.

After a frantic push forward by Crossfire in the final minutes came up empty, their fate was sealed. The final whistle blew and Vardar, perhaps the least-heralded team entering Academy Finals last week, was the U17/18 Champion.

After the game, coach Demir Muftari tried to collect himself and put it all in perspective.

“It took us most of the first half to find our legs and get into the flow of the game,” he said, “and we started out playing a little bit timid, not quite like ourselves. But in the second half, we got back to the basics and told our guys not to be afraid of making mistakes, and they responded very well.

“A win like this is a great thing for our club, great thing for this group. We’re just proud to be associated with the top teams in the country, to be in attendance at this event. There are so many quality teams and players here, and for us to be able to achieve this, it’s just unforgettable. For the players, and for all of us at the Vardar club.”

While Vardar had the day’s most memorable victory, the 3rd place, 5th and 7th place matches also took place. A look at those results:

7th place: Concorde Fire 4 – 2 Derby County Wolves

5th place: Baltimore Bays Chelsea 1 – 0 FC Dallas

3rd place: Real So Cal 3 – 2 CASL Chelsea FC Academy