Collinsville soccer coach Jeff Stanley sometimes has to tell his athletes to go home from practice.

“They want to play all the time,” he said of his team. “But hey, that’s how you have a successful program.”

On Friday, his Collinsville team couldn’t wait to get home to celebrate a new addition to the trophy case.

The Panthers claimed the Class 1A-3A state soccer championship on Friday with a 5-2 victory over Tuscaloosa Academy, marking the program’s second AHSAA boys soccer title.

“This is my 10th year, we just got our 22nd win and that’s a school record,” Stanley said. “There’s a lot of things going into it, but I’m just a small part of this right here. These guys and these coaches and all the support I have at school in the community.

“Man, did you see the band and all the fans over here? It’s just amazing. I want to thank God. This wouldn’t be happening if it wasn’t for God.”

Collinsville’s 5 goals came from different players, with Aaron Herrera’s goal with 1:31 left to play putting an exclamation point on the victory.

Jefferson Acevedo, Eddy Ortiz, Alex Herrera and Jan Segura also added one goal apiece for a Panthers squad that applied 21 shots in the win, 10 on goal.

Tuscaloosa Academy attempted a comeback after falling behind 4-0, with goals from Anton Schmidt and Danilo Stojakovic in the second half, cutting the deficit to 2 goals before the final Collinsville goal.

The Knights combined for 16 shots, with Schmidt accounting for 10 of those, 7 on goal.

A large part of the community support comes from alumni of the soccer program both financially — highlighted by an alumni fundraising soccer event — and with encouragement, Stanley said.

“This morning, I had a video sent to me that was made up of about eight or nine players and people in the community telling us how bad they wanted us to get this state championship to go along with one they had in 2013,” he smiled. “Now we’ve got two of them.”

The community support filling up the stands was a highlight for Stanley, who prided his team on its effort in the victory and all season.

“It doesn’t matter what sport it is, they’re going to support us,” he said. “They’re going to give us the money we need, whatever we need, they’re going to give us. The booster club, the school, the board of education, they’re all behind us and we’re just really proud.”

How will the team celebrate?

“First of all, we’re going to go eat,” Stanley said. “Then we’re going to go back to the school, and I know when we get to Rainsville, we’re going to have a police escort all the way in. I’m going to call the Balfour representative and set up a meeting for next week, and just little things like that.

“I’m just thankful.”