PHOTOS: Iowa City West junior steals, dribbles, blasts goal to top Kennedy

Tanner Schilling felt like he owed his team one. He took a bad yellow card last week and missed on several opportunities.

With 15 minutes left Saturday in a tie game with state power Cedar Rapids Kennedy, the Iowa City West junior paid in full.

He took the ball off a bad Kennedy pass, nimbly dribbled around a handful of defenders and blasted a shot on goal.

Kennedy goalie Ben Feltes got his hand on it, but the ball tucked itself away into the left side of the net.

Just like that, last year's 3A soccer champs stayed undefeated, getting revenge for their last loss - a 1-0 setback to Kennedy last year - with a 2-1 come-from-behind win.

“They were on our backs all game,” Schilling said. “I knew they'd be gunning for me. I had to get around them somehow.”

Schilling's goal gave him a team-leading seven this season to go with six assists.

“He's got the capability to do that,” West Coach Brad Stiles said of the individual effort Schilling displayed on the winning goal. “(But) being a junior, he still has some things to learn.”

The team as a whole needs to learn how to come out strong, Stiles said. The championship squad last year scored early to get into a comfort zone in games, but this year things haven't been quite the same. That was evident against Kennedy in the form of shots hitting the posts or beating the goalie but sailing just wide of the net in the first half.

“We are getting to the point where we are beating ourselves in the opening minutes,” Stiles said.

It was the second game in a row in which top-ranked West needed a second-half comeback. They put in two goals in a matter of three minutes Tuesday to upend rival City High, then scored two goals less than four minutes apart to take down No. 3 Kennedy.

“It shows that we're a hard working team,” said junior Chris Clegg, who scored the tying goal against Kennedy. “We're not going to quit until the whistle blows.”

Iowa City West knows everyone is coming after them and isn't about to back down.

Not even on the road, against the third best team in the state, down by a goal to the last team to leave you with the bitterness of defeat. And not with a conference title likely on the line.

“It shows that we're not going to give up,” Schilling said.

“We still have something to prove.

“We're number one, but it's not a state championship.”

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