The championship came a day after the Arsenal easily won their semi-final game against Innisfil in a lopsided 5-1 victory. The Alliston team knocked out Barrie in the quarter-final in a stunning 7-0 win the previous week.
The squad ended the year in first place with a game to spare after winning 10 of 14 matches in regular season play before going on to dominate in the playoffs. They lost only one game and tied in the remaining three.
This is the first time in the club's 24-year history that they have taken the top spot even though they have placed high in the standings for the past few seasons.
The Arsenal took the lead midway in the first half of the championship game on a goal by Andrew Gunby.
The team's top scorer Chris Graham put the Arsenal ahead by two early in the second half.
The game was pretty much over when Nick Lamers went to the left side of the net on a penalty shot to put Alliston ahead by three. The final goal came late in the game by Stephen Lamers.
Net minder Aaron Garwood got the shutout in the Alliston goal.
The championship win was the result of a concerted effort by the team and coach Dino Biffis who began the preseason with a tough training schedule.
"We really set our mind on doing the deed this time around," Biffis said of the team's game plan. "We started training indoors this year, all of our guys played indoor soccer. Then we had our training camp and made some changes and additions to the team and from there I trained them hard every practice we had. We had great commitment. We always had two goaltenders coming out to practice so the guys always wanted to play. We were doing cardio, running, I've never pushed them as hard as I did this year from a training point of view. We were at peak form."
The Aurora team was the only squad that won over the Arsenal this year and in their first match the game ended in a tie. But Biffis said that capitalizing on opportunities made the difference in the final.
"Today, we were scoring on our opportunities. I know we can generate the chances, it's a matter of finishing, and we finished more consistently today. And our defence tightened things down as well."
Chris Graham who has led the Arsenal squad in scoring for the past two seasons said the semi-final win over Innisfil gave them the edge they needed to head into the final confident that they could take the cup.
"This is the first time we beat them all year," he said of the Aurora team. "We thought it would be tougher but the way we played yesterday (in the semi-final) we knew if we just played that way and played our style of soccer we would beat them."
The first place finish gives the Arsenal the chance to move up to the Ontario Soccer League - a decision the team will make at a later date after discussing their options.
