Better late than never for Xavier in Class 2A title game

DES MOINES - Luke Duball has a unique style as an attacker. Kind of a cross between a crazy legs running back and a charging bull. He somehow snaked his way clear of DeWitt Central defenders in the box and fired in the winning goal in the second overtime as Xavier defeated the Sabers, 1-0, in the Class 2A state championship.

Xavier collected its seventh state championship. The others came in 2004-06, 2010, 2011 and 2013.

'It's a special feeling,” senior Connor Ramlo said. 'Us seniors have wanted it incredibly bad all year. Ever since we won it our sophomore year we've wanted to get back here. It was a ton of fun to play with these guys. Only two losses in the MVC, it was a pretty special year and to finish it with a title you can't beat the feeling.”

Xavier Coach Amir Hadzic wasn't surprised that it was Duball who finally broke through.

'That's his game. He really struggles when teams are sitting in the back because then he doesn't have space,” Hadzic said. 'But in open space he is the best dribbler and fast and unpredictable with the ball. He really likes to make those cuts and for defenders, he is so quick with that first step, he is hard to defend.

'In a couple of instances he was not doing his thing so I was asking him to be himself. In overtime take that ball and be unpredictable. Shake them up.”

Ramlo played the ball to Duball.

'I saw him turn and he's a great dribbler,” Ramlo said. 'We've seen him do it all year. He takes guys on. I saw him weave through a couple guys and it was him and the keeper and he put it in the back of the net.

'He does his own thing and we let him go loose, and it's pretty effective.”

Duball said: 'I turned and I saw I had a one-on-one. I faked a shot with my right foot, put it back on my left and went back from the goal and just slipped it over the goalie. I thought ‘This is unreal. We just won the state title and I got the goal that pulled us through.' I thought about all the hard work we put in this season. It finally paid off.”

A key call came in the 23rd minute when the Sabers appeared to score a goal. Xavier's Stephen Jones was hurt on the play and it took a few minutes to help him off the field. Then the referee motioned that the goal was disallowed because DeWitt Central was offside.

'If you want my honest opinion it's a bunch of egos who think the show's them,” Central Coach Eduardo Garza said. 'They call an offside. The fourth official doesn't confirm it, didn't even see it and the center ref disallows (the goal). It was not called by the linesman, who's supposed to call offside.”

Without that goal the game devolved into almost total possession by the Saints as they probed for a way to score against a packed in defense.

'It seemed like the whole game we were right around their goal and it was only a matter of time before we snuck one in,” Ramlo said. 'Luckily it came before penalty kicks.”