The Class 5A state championship was scoreless for most of Friday.

It took one of the best players in the state’s history just moments to change that.

A pair of late goals within 43 seconds of each other from A.J. Shumate lifted Class 5A No. 1 Guntersville to a 2-0 victory over No. 2 Indian Springs, giving the Wildcats their fourth state championship in program history.

“We won’t go away,” he said of his team. “We went to overtime in our first two rounds for the playoffs, and my boys never quit. We have lots of talent. These seniors are different. I couldn’t ask for a better group of boys to play with.

“They always believe in me, and I always believe in them. My back line, my midfield, my strikers, my wingers. I’m so thankful that I would never, ever trade them for the world.”

The scoring for Shumate — which came in the second half with the clock at 10:36 and 9:53 — added to a state-record 212 career goals.

He also had a hat trick in a 5-1 win over Marshall County foe Boaz in the state semifinals on Wednesday and finished the season with 50 goals, which ranks 19th in AHSAA history for a single season. His 61 goals in 2024 ranks seventh.

“It’s a wild number,” he said of his goals. “I knew I had a chance to get in seventh grade, but it’s always a goal I reached for, but I never thought it’d be this far.”

Guntersville coach Zach Ross said the pair of goals from Shumate within less than a minute of each other was “insane.”

“He works hard, he’s humble, he doesn’t talk about me, me, me,” the coach said. “He would have given all 50-something goals that he had this season for that ring, and luckily he didn’t have to. Luckily, he won it anyway.

“He’s just such a hard-working kid. We’re going to miss him so much; just a phenomenal, phenomenal player.”

The victory for Guntersville marked the program’s first state title since 2016, when the Wildcats claimed what was the Class 4A-5A championship.

With last year ending with a loss to Gulf Shores in the Class 5A state championship game, Ross said it’s a testament to how hard his group works and how the players buy into the culture.

“I was born and raised in this town, and it’s a special place,” Ross said. “Moving back there and getting the opportunity to coach this program there, it’s easy. Sometimes, you have to grind out, you have to work hard, but it’s easy because the saying is that there’s something special in the water. There’s something special in the water. In Guntersville, we have a lot of water.”

“It’s easy when you have kids like this.”

Brandon Manganaris logged 6 shots in the victory while Slaide Mohr had 4 saves and a clean sheet at goalkeeper for the Wildcats. Hunter Holdsambeck had an assist in the win.

Indian Springs’ Alex Hage had 4 shots to lead the team, while three other players had a shot apiece.

There’s plenty that will be remembered for Ross from this year’s standout season, but his team’s hard work will be the intangible that sticks out the most for his Wildcats.

“People don’t see the work that we put in December, January, February, preparing for the season,” he said. “They’re running 6, 7 miles a day, and not just running out in the neighborhood 6 miles. They’re running sprints, they’re doing burpees, they’re running stadiums, they’re running long distance. They put in so much work to get back here. I’m at a little bit of a loss for words.”