Penalty kicks give Regina another state title

DES MOINES - Both goalkeepers were flawless for 100 minutes of soccer in the Class 1A boys' state championship Tuesday.

But that wasn't enough to crown a champion, so Regina's Aidan Mullan and Mid-Prairie's Spencer Shalla were once again sent into the fray.

The Regals scored on three of their six penalty kicks, while the Golden Hawks only managed two - and Regina won its fifth state title in six years.

Games don't get any closer than this one.

The teams were shadow boxing for the first 80 minutes, feeling each other out and occasionally inching forward to make a run at the defense.

'That's a much deeper team than I thought,” Regals' Coach Rick Larew said. 'Coach (Pat) Cady is coach of the year as far as I'm concerned.”

'We knew it was going to be a tight game,” Cady said. 'We don't give up goals; they don't give up goals. It was going to be whoever made a mistake. Nobody made a mistake in regulation so it comes down to PKs.”

It wasn't until the first overtime that Regina seemed in control. The Regals had four very good chances in the period, three by junior Michael Adam and one by sophomore Andrew Yowell to no avail. The Golden Hawks had trouble mounting an attack in either overtime.

'I think we had them worn out by the end of the second half,” Adam said.

'I think they were tiring out,” Larew said. 'But our offensive legs were pretty tired.”

So on to penalty kicks they went. Regina was comfortable with the development.

'We were confident,” Larew said. 'We practice PKs a lot and practice shootouts a lot. Aidan has just been sensational the last couple weeks.”

'Every free hour we have we shoot and shoot and shoot,” Adam said.

'I have faith in my teammates that they are going to go and score, and I think they have faith that I can make the big save when it counts,” Mullan said. 'We did it earlier in the season in a PK shootout, and we practice PKs hard all the time.”

Nicolas Ziniel and Emilio Tovar gave the Regals a 2-1 lead going to the fifth kick. Shalla saved the potential winner from Jacob Adam, and Mid-Prairie defender Dustin Yoder booted one home to extend the shootout.

Connor Brown stepped in for Regina and booted his in.

'I tried to get nothing going through my head, just to focus on it,” Brown said. 'Try to stay as confident in myself as I can. Do what we do every day at the end of practice.”

When Mid-Prairie's last shot was high, the Regals ran down the field and mobbed Mullan.

'I was the next shooter, so I was hoping I wouldn't have to take it,” Mullan said.

Mullan saved three of the six shots, while Shalla had two saves. Each team had one ball that wasn't on frame.

Scoring during regulation turned out to be only a faint hope.

'They had about six guys back,” Larew said. 'About half of Wellman. And we were so wary of their counterattacking with (Wyatt Cady and Nick Stimson) that we didn't bring quite as many guys down on attack. Whenever we crossed they had three or four guys in the box.

'They are a high-scoring team and we are not. So for us not to get many goals is not a surprise. For them not to get any is really a tribute to our defense.”

Mid-Prairie was the fifth school to reach the finals in its first state appearance.

'It's a bittersweet end,” Cady said. 'A great year. The program really stepped up. We're going to talk about our accomplishments. We had three guys on the all-tournament team, that's fantastic. We had two guys first-team all-state this year. That's a little different. We're 17-3 now. I can remember when the program was 3-17.”

Mullan, one of only four senior starters, said this game was more satisfying to him than last year's blowout in the title match.

'Last year it was 4-0 and I really didn't get to do much,” he said. 'I like games, although it drives my parents crazy, where I have to do something and I feel like this game was right up my alley.”