South Tama wins wild 2A quarterfinal over Sioux City Heelan

DES MOINES - In looking for the most action-filled, nerve-wracking game of the opening round of the boys state soccer tournament, no one had to look further than in Class 2A between No. 1 seed Sioux City Bishop Heelan and No. 8 seed South Tama.

The quarterfinal matchup between the Crusaders and Trojans featured two ties and three lead changes, and ultimately saw South Tama pull off the upset, 3-2, and notch the school's first victory at state.

'Oh my gosh, I think I aged a few years during that game, but that was tremendous,” said first-year South Tama Coach Ian Tayner. 'I couldn't be prouder of what these guys did today. Any time (Heelan) scored to tie it, we came right back. Any barrier put in front of us, we're breaking through it.”

The Trojans' win marked the second straight season in which a No. 8 seed beat the Crusaders in the quarterfinal round - last year's coming to then-No. 8 seed Cedar Rapids Xavier.

Heelan controlled the ball for much of the game, and it was in just a few select offensive attack opportunities that South Tama was able to capitalize. The Crusaders (15-2) spread the field with their attackers, but Trojans junior defender Jose Francisco Rivera was there to clean up and clear the ball more often than not.

South Tama got on the board first at 15:05 off the foot of Jose Chavarria, who got his first goal of the season. But it was in the second half where the scoring and action really took off.

Heelan tied it at 47:39 in the opening minutes of the second half with a long bender from the right corner of box off the foot of Joe Verschoor. A little more than four minutes later, it was tied again. This time it was on an own-goal from Heelan after South Tama forward Jerry Lowe shot and it was deflected in by the Crusaders' Grant Delperdang.

At 59:20, a little less than eight minutes after the own goal, Heelan tied it for a second time. Luis Hernandez took a pass from Ulysses Apeitia at the penalty kick spot and buried it.

The game winner came 65:40. South Tama's Adrian Castanon sent a cross into the box on a free kick and Lowe was able to get a foot on it to send it in. That left an agonizing 14:20 left in the game for the Trojans to hold off a barrage of attacks from the Crusaders.

'That's a really tough team. We knew we had to come in here and play hard, play together, and that's what we were able to do,” Lowe said. 'We never gave up. That's how our team is. Even if our team is behind, we come together and don't lose hope. We don't give up because it's only a goal. There's always time left on the clock. The only time we've lost is when the time runs out on the clock. As long as we keep playing, we can bring something out of it.”

The mental strength it took for South Tama (18-3) to respond to the Heelan goals very much impressed its young and eager head coach.

Tayner got the customary Gatorade bath on the sideline after the win, and couldn't have had a wider smile on his face.

'It takes tremendous mental strength and self-belief in what we can do,” Tayner said. 'These guys showed that today. They've come on strong the last five games.

'I expect this to continue tomorrow and into Saturday.”

South Tama plays No. 4 seed DeWitt Central on Friday at 2:30 p.m. on Field 9 at Cownie Soccer Complex.

l Comments: (319) 368-8884; jeremiah.davis@thegazette.com