ST. LOUIS, Mo. – The boys soccer team from Peoria Notre Dame (Peoria, Ill.) was two hours into a three-hour bus ride home Saturday afternoon when it learned they were Gateway City Soccer Classic bracket champions.

“Say thanks to A.J. for me,” PND coach Mike Bare said with a laugh from his seat on the charter bus carrying the team back to Peoria, Ill.

“A.J.” happened to be A.J. Anthon, who finished a scrum in front of the net with 4:12 left to lift Chaminade (St. Louis, Mo.) to 1-0 win over St. Thomas Aquinas (Overland Park, Kan.) in the final match of the Round Robin A bracket. The result put Chaminade and Peoria Notre Dame in a tie on points with 2-0-1 showings at the event, but PND was awarded the title based on the third tiebreaker – most goals scored.

Drew Chisholm scored the first two goals and J.D. Sohn added the third as Quincy (Quincy, Ill.) defeated Washburn Rural 3-1 to capture the Bracket B title. 

Quincy's win gave Illinois schools a sweep of the top two brackets at Gateway, and it marked the second Gateway title for each program.

Earlier in the day, PND used a late goal from Trey Knighton to salvage a 3-3 tie with Rockhurst Jesuit (Kansas City, Mo.) in a match with playoff-like intensity despite its 8 a.m. start.

The PND coaching staff learned of Chaminade’s goal through Twitter, and even had a chance to view the video clip. After the match was a final, Bare opted to send a group text as opposed to making an announcement since half the team members were asleep on the bus ride.

“All I wanted was three quality games,” Bare said of attending Gateway. “The fact we’re bracket champ is really just a bonus.”

Aquinas and Chaminade played an action-packed scoreless match for 75 minutes. Then, with the clock winding down, Chaminade was awarded a free kick at midfield. Midfielder Ryan Matteo served a dangerous ball to the 6 that bounced around the goal mouth. Mike Barlow attempted to heel the ball into the goal, but the ball hit an Aquinas defender on the ground and rolled into the path of Anthon, who slammed it into the net.

“The ball was sitting right there, waiting for me to kick it,” Anthon said.

Chaminade went 2-0-1 at Gateway to push its record to 15-4-1 on the season. Aquinas, which would have won the tournament with a victory Saturday, went 2-1 at Gateway and is 11-2 on the season.

“That was a great game – a fitting end to the tournament,” Aquinas coach Craig Ewing said. Then he quickly modified his statement, “Well, a tie would have been more fitting, but I guess [Chaminade] wouldn’t think so.”

Rockhurst and Peoria Notre Dame kicked off Saturday’s action with an 8 a.m. match, and it didn’t take long for the intensity to ramp up.

T.J. Rea scored 15 seconds into the match, giving PND a 1-0 lead. Rockhurst countered with goals by John Mullen and Kyle Ruark for a 2-1 advantage. Right before half, Knighton scored to even it at 2. Rockhurst went ahead on a Cole Hickam header of an Alex Siro corner kick. Knighton’s second goal was a strong right-footed strike that curled into the far post side netting with 3:20 left for the final margin.

In other key matches Saturday:

Quincy 3, Washburn Rural 1: In the B final, Chisholm's first goal came eight minutes into the match, but Washburn Rural tied the match before halftime. Chisholm's goal early in the second half tilted the contest in Quincy's favor as the team is 8-0-1 in its last nine matches, 12-2-2 overall. The setback was the first for Washburn Rural this season.

Pingry School (Martinsville, N.J.) 2, Vianney (St. Louis, Mo.) 1: Brendan Kelly scored against the run of play with 1:28 left as Pingry salvaged a victory to finish 1-1 at the event. Obio Ikoro scored early in the match to put Pingry ahead before Sean Michel equalized for Vianney.

Evansville Memorial (Evansville, Ind.) 4, St. Charles East (St. Charles, Ill.) 4: Andrew Cross scored two goals and assisted on a third as Evansville Memorial scored four second-half goals en route to a tie with St. Charles East. Both teams finished Group play at 2-0-1, yet Evansville Memorial was declared the group champ based on fewer goals allowed.

Collinsville (Collinsville, Ill.) 1, Hickman (Columbia, Mo.) 0: Collinsville captured the Bracket F title with a shootout win following a scoreless match.

Other bracket titles were won by Marquette (Chesterfield, Mo.), Raymore-Peculiar (Peculiar, Mo.) and Nixa (Nixa, Mo.).