Clear Creek Amana Falls Short Against Perry

PERRY 2, CLEAR CREEK AMANA 1 - Clear Creek Amana's boys' soccer team started slowly in a Class 2A quarterfinal against No. 7-ranked Perry. If not for the heroic efforts of goalkeeper Miles Lucas, the Clippers would have been buried by halftime.

But in the second half of a 2-1 loss, the Clippers were transformed into a more aggressive team and nearly had the wherewithal to take down the Bluejays.

The 11th-ranked Clippers finished the season at 12-5. This was the third appearance for CCA at state. Perry, in its first appearance at state, improved to 15-3.

'I think we convinced ourselves in the first half that we could play,” CCA Coach Tim Benson said. 'They came out with energy and a big crowd in the first five minutes, and our keeper was under stress the whole time. Miles was keeping us in the game the first 10 minutes there.”

Then trailing 1-0 in the second half the Clippers were the aggressors. They made several runs and had some good chances but couldn't put one away until Perry had a 2-0 lead late in the game. Jacob Klingeman's through ball pass was touched and controlled by Andrew Beckler, who then rifled the shot in to cut the lead to 2-1 with 4:24 left to play.

- Susan Harman