Dyersville Beckman reaches Class 1A boys’ state soccer final

DES MOINES - A loud, sharp, insistent voice commanded: 'Shoot it, shoot it, shoot it!”

So Dyersville Beckman junior forward Dillon Keegan obliged and launched a 25-yard rocket into the upper corner of the net to give the Blazers a precious early goal in a 2-0 victory over eighth-ranked Gladbrook-Reinbeck.

'I heard it. I had quite a crowd over here saying, ‘Shoot it,'” Keegan said. 'I knew I might as well take it then. It could have been (my mother); she's always yelling at me for that.”

Keegan had made his way around and through several defenders dribbling deliberately, but that voice had seen enough.

Maybe Mother knows best.

'I don't know if I can describe that goal. It was crazy. I just kind of turned and shot and I saw it go into the top left upper 90,” Keegan said. 'I just stood there. I didn't even believe it was going in.”

Beckman (17-0) will play in its second Class 1A championship game against Gilbert (17-3) at 12:05 p.m. today. Gilbert beat Council Bluffs St. Albert in the other semifinal, 2-0.

Gladbrook-Reinbeck (16-4) will play St. Albert (15-5) in the third-place game at 11:10 a.m. today.

'We're going to have to work hard,” Blazer Coach Mirek Laskowski said. 'Nothing is easy at this level. I know we want it. We want it bad.”

Veteran goalie Trent Westhoff was injured in a collision in the box and sat out the final 17:25 of the first half, but reserve goalie Ben Hess and the rest of the defense held the Rebels. Westhoff returned in the second half as the defense completed the shutout.

'Outstanding. Incredible. I have to give a ton of credit to them because without them my job would be 100 times harder,” Westhoff said. 'Jay (Wessels), Jake (Grover), Cody (Goedken) and Josh (Gehling) did an outstanding job of staying in front and not letting them shoot.”

Westhoff saved a free kick from about 35 yards out by the Rebels' Bennett Petersen in the 47th minute that was headed for the net.

'It was a very good shot,” Westhoff said. 'I had a small wall set but it was far enough out that I knew I could get to it. I had plenty of time. It had a little bit of curve to it and it dipped the other way, so I had to dive to make a good save.”

Keegan's goal stood until the final 20 seconds when Keegan finally got a second after numerous runs deep into Rebel territory.

'That second one was great,” he said. 'Basically Carter Boekholder asked for the ball and I saw the keeper move and I decided to take a shot. That keeper was phenomenal. I was more than impressed with his athleticism and his ability to get to the ball.”

'I'm really happy. The boys worked hard for this game,” Laskowski said. 'There we are: state final.”