Antonio Sanchez’s free-kick goal sends Iowa City West to state tournament

IOWA CITY — The ball nestled into the upper left corner of the net and Antonio Sanchez leapt high and swung his fist. The Iowa City West senior's 25-yard free kick from the top of the box bent over and around the Bettendorf wall and gave the third-ranked Trojans a 2-1 victory over No. 6 Bettendorf in a substate final Saturday at Barker Field.

'I just knew everything was on the line,' Sanchez said. 'I put everything I could behind it. It's a great feeling. I can't even put it into words.'

West (17-2) returns to the state tournament for the 17th time after a rare season at home. The Trojans will take on Cedar Rapids Washington in a quarterfinal game at 5:15 p.m. Thursday.

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'That was the worst execution of a game plan we've ever had, but I tell you what, I'm pretty happy now,' West Coach Brad Stiles said.

Sanchez's shot came in the 74th minute after a brief conference.

'It was between me and Alex (Andersen), and we just lined up,' Sanchez said. 'I think he was going to take it. I went up and was like 'You got it?' And he said, 'It's up to you. It's your last game, you choose.' I said, 'All right, I'll take it.''

He correctly predicted the way the keeper would go and took the ball the other way.

West trailed 1-0 after Nate Seaberg cashed a PK in the 32nd minute.

'It was devastating,' West senior Nicholas Pitcher said. 'It wasn't a penalty in my opinion, but I could see it was going to happen. I was definitely thinking about last year. And when I missed that chance early on I thought 'Oh God, I let us down.''

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But in the 38th minute Adam Rose sent a long cross into the box to Pitcher, who got his head on it.

'I got like the slightest touch; it was enough to kind of confuse them,' Pitcher said. 'And they sent it in for an own goal.'

'Once we scored I was like 'OK we've got this, we're back in it,'' Sanchez said. 'We had all the momentum going into the second half.'

The Bulldogs finished 14-3. They had won 14 games in a row.