Top-ranked Valley ends West's quest for 3 straight titles

DES MOINES - They had a glorious chance to take a lead an amazingly quick 20 seconds into this one.

As it turned out, the Iowa City West Trojans really could have used that goal. And another one.

Mighty West Des Moines Valley scored twice eight minutes apart late in the first half and held off West, 3-1, at Cownie Park. No three-peat for the Trojans (16-5), who more than held their own against a Valley club considered by some to be among the nation's best.

"They've been a very, very exciting three years," said senior striker Tanner Schilling, a key part of West's offense since he was a sophomore. "Something I'll keep for the rest of my life. This senior year ... we gave it our all. Sometimes that's not enough."

West drove the ball deep into Valley territory on the opening kickoff, with Paris Martins somehow finding himself wide open in front of the net. But Valley goalkeeper Alden Haffar stoned him, giving his team a chance to regroup.

Eric Williams then scored in the 28th minute and Brandon Visonnavong in the 36th to give Valley (22-1) a 2-0 halftime lead. Talk about a big, big swing.

"The coaches were just talking about that," said West Coach Brad Stiles. "Paris puts that a little bit left or a little bit right, it's holy smokes, you know? ... He hit the keeper right in the numbers."

"That wakes you up," Williams said. "You don't expect that right away to start the game. We (try to) come out hard for every game. Something like that gives you a wakeup call."

Playing with a gusty wind in the second half, West made it a game on freshman Ryan O'Deen's goal with 26:53 to go. The Trojans pressed to tie it, with Schilling just missing a chance in the box to the left of the goal barely wide.

Another significant near miss there, as Williams scored after a neat cross from Christian Hernandez less than a minute later for a 3-1 Tigers lead with 16:19 left. Williams has four goals in Valley's first two games here and Visonnavong three.

"Not enough composure," Schilling said of his chance to tie.

West continued to play, but another two-goal deficit was too much to recover from.

"These guys have been enjoyable," Stiles said of a team that had just two returning starters off a club that finished 2010 with a 32-game win streak. "To their credit, it's been good going to practice with them each day ... Never once did I get up and feel like ‘Man, I don't want to deal with them today.'"

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