He’s just a freshman, but Kai Lundberg will be the big man on campus on Monday.

The 15 year old saved the day for the Gilbert Christian Knights for the second time this postseason with a late-game goal. But his final shot of the season, with nearly six minutes remaining in the 3A state championship, is what made him the most popular Knight.

It also helped capture Gilbert Christian’s first title, something it’s been chasing for quite some time.

The Knights defeated another team that played like a champ, Yuma Catholic, 2-1 in Saturday's 3A title tilt at Mountain Pointe High School. Lundberg, positioned right in front of the net during a corner kick, raised his left leg and finished off the eventual deciding scoring play right after the ball touched the goalkeeper’s gloves.

“No,” said Lundberg confidently when asked if the moment seemed too big for him.

Any nerves?

“No,” again.

Kai Lundberg, the freshman hero of Saturday's 3A title game, is congratulated after the match. (Jose Garcia photo/AZPreps365)In the state quarterfinals, with just six seconds left before Gilbert Christian’s season ended in the second overtime, Lundberg stunned Palo Verde with a game-scoring header that sent the match to PKs.

“He (Lundberg) is a little bit slow sometimes, but for some reason he is always in the right spot and always gets a good touch on the ball and finds the back of the net,” said another Gilbert Christian hero, striker Noah Cooper. "That’s what I absolutely love about him. He is so sneaky good.”

Last year, Gilbert Christian reached the 3A final as well but lost.

This season, the somewhat young Knights (17-3-1) matured quickly while playing a handful of their conference’s best teams. On Saturday, they found themselves in another battle against a 18-5 Yuma Catholic squad that held its own after a slow start.

Yuma Catholic, a 7-time state championship, reached its first title match since 2018. (Jose Garcia photo/AZPreps365)

The tall and dangerous Gean Lagarda gave Gilbert Christian fits in the midfield. Like Lundberg, Yuma Catholic’s Sahid Verdugo was in the right spot after a corner kick to knock in a rebound in the 24th minute.

Yuma Catholic led the 3A’s No. 1 seed 1-0 at that point, but the Knights didn’t panic. They kept trying to find their determined speedster, Cooper, who eventually got away with about five minutes left in the first half.

The junior outraced a couple of defenders before sending a low roller passed the charging goalkeeper and into the net for his team-leading 34th goal.

“I really have no words,” Cooper said. “We were up one in last year’s championship and then went down and couldn’t pull it back the entire game. It was the most awful defeat we ever had, and to come back this year to win it, it’s just an unreal feeling. We’ve been waiting so long. We’ve never had a boys champion and finally did it.”

In last year’s final, Gilbert Christian played without one of its difference makers, the injured Caleb Barnett, a senior captain.

But Barnett and junior defender Brady Fredrickson, who was injured but returned Saturday, played vital roles in the 2025 championship match.

Another senior, Brody Moore, also stepped up. Fredrickson is an outside defender that plays on his team’s three man back line, the unsung heroes of the team, coach Devon Dickinson said.

“This (winning the title) has been the seven year dream,” Dickinson said. “I’m almost without words, which isn’t like me. I feel that what I’m really proud of is that we’ve built on our legacy, those who have come before us. Every year we’ve gotten better. We see ourselves as a program. This is special for the school. It’s special for anyone who has played here.”