1A No. 1 Beckman edges 2A No. 1 Xavier on late free kick

MARION - Top-ranked and defending Class 1A champion Dyersville Beckman beat top-ranked and defending 2A champion Cedar Rapids Xavier, 3-2, on Saturday in a physical, rough-and-tumble Catholic Schools tournament title match at the Tuma complex.

'The key is we have depth this year,” Beckman Coach Mirek Laskowski said. 'When you have three games in one day it's a lot of running. Last year we had a lot of sophomores and juniors who stepped up, and this year they have a lot of experience. That pays off especially in this kind of a tournament.”

With the score tied at 2 late in the 60-minute match, the Blazers mounted an attack that took keeper Daniel Richardson out to the left of the goal. He wasn't able to contain the ball and a Blazer booted it toward the wide-open goal only to have Xavier's Matthew Bean come up with a heroic save.

The ball trickled backward, and Richardson came out of nowhere to retrieve it. The referee called a foul, believing the ball had been directed to the keeper by his teammate on purpose, in which case he cannot pick it up with his hands. Saints Coach Amir Hadzic disputed the call to no avail.

'How can somebody making a slide tackle on the goal line intentionally pass it back to the goalie?” he asked.

Beckman (8-0) was awarded a free kick inside the box at point-blank range and cashed it in for the winner.

'It was an indirect free kick and it hit off one of their defenders, and I knew it could come right back to me. All I did was put my foot on it,” Blazer junior Colin Koelker said. 'It was pure adrenaline.”

Xavier (7-3) trailed 2-0 after quick-strike attacks by Justin Wolfe and Noah Sabers in the first half. The Saints got one back on a PK by Connor Vogt after a foul in the box, before the half ended.

The Saints' Lucas Duball evened the game with about 10 minutes left on a series of moves in front of the net, finally carving out enough space for a shot. But eight minutes later Koelker scored off the rebound for the victory.