Prairie boys' soccer makes history

CEDAR RAPIDS — Tears rolled down Prairie senior Logan Rinderknecht's cheeks as the raw emotion of the moment caught up with him. It was a measure of how much he wanted to be part of the Hawks' substate final against Bettendorf on Saturday. It meant that much to him to be with his teammates when they made history.

Prairie defeated Bettendorf 1-0 to advance to the boys' state soccer tournament for the first time. Ironically it is Bettendorf who holds the state record for most state tourney appearances with 17.

Prairie (14-3) plays Ankeny Centennial (18-1) at 5:05 p.m. Thursday in the Class 3A quarterfinals in Des Moines.

Rinderknecht, the leading scorer, didn't start the game because he was slowed by a knee injury suffered Thursday in the substate semifinal.

'It was bad,' he said. 'I just thought I wouldn't be able to (be) here in the substate finals, but I asked for a miracle and my mom asked for a miracle and our family just sat there and asked.

'But being able to come out here and show my team that I'm able to fight through it … it hurts, but it feels good to say that I was part of this and say I was here for you guys.'

This was the eighth substate final for Prairie.

'We just came so far,' Rinderknecht said. 'Our chemistry is amazing. Our team is not just a team; we're more like family. It feels good to have each other's back.

'We come to win. We are trying to make a legacy for the coming years and show them that Prairie can do it.'

'It's the effort; it's the heart that we've got,' senior goalie Alec Balta said. 'I've been in this (substate final) game three times and I've just wanted it so bad, and it feels absolutely incredible because these guys deserve it because they worked their butts off.'

The gusty wind from the north was a factor. Prairie weathered the first half playing into the wind as neither team scored.

'We challenged them. Forty minutes. You're 40 minutes away from achieving their goals they worked on in the offseason,' Prairie head coach Curt Lewis said.

Sophomore Joel Collett scored the winner just 80 seconds into the second half.

'He told us to go out and get an early goal, but I just wanted to (score) because the seniors deserved it and we needed to move on to state,' Collett said. 'Jo Jo (Simpson) just laid the ball off to me, and I saw the goal and decided to take a shot. I just tried to place it otherwise it would have blasted over because we had the win at our backs.'

The shutout was Prairie's 13th of the season.