South claims state title

The monkey is finally off the back of the Fargo South boys’ soccer team.

Matt Keim scored in the fifth minute to help the Bruins exorcize past playoff demons with a 1-0 victory against Bismarck Century in the North Dakota state tournament championship Saturday at Sid Cichy Stadium.

“These kids came together and they worked so hard this year – just like Century did,” said South coach Dean Hashbarger, who was named the state’s coach of the year for a second straight season. “The success that we had this year, it would have been a disappointment (to lose). And it’s not a disappointment to get here and lose in a state championship game. But their sights were set on this game ever since the beginning of the year.”

South, which breezed through the first two rounds Friday with decisive victories against Mandan and Bismarck-St. Mary’s, appeared to again be on top of their game offensively early on against the Patriots.

Keim found the back of the net less than five minutes in to put the Bruins ahead 1-0.

“It popped out in front of me,” Keim said. “All I had to do was just tap it in.”

The Bruins defense, the calling card of the team all season, and goalkeeper Matt Crawford did the rest to secure the win.

South and Crawford turned away a barrage of Century shots down the stretch, including a header by Alec Rauhauser just over the cross bar with 1 minute, 42 seconds remaining.

Crawford finished with 12 saves.

“We went direct, we were down one goal, we had the wind,” Patriots coach Joel Jahnke said. “We had some great opportunities to score. It’s a game of inches. And a couple opportunities were just that.”

The Bruins earned their first state title since 2004.

South failed to reached the state final in each of the last three seasons, despite earning the top seed from the East Region each year.

“Our defense is amazing,” Keim said. “They’ve been outstanding all year. I think most of our success goes to them because they just hold it down back there. Our goalie barely gets any shots, even though he played a really good game today. I’m just really happy.”

Third place

Bismarck 1, Bismarck-St. Mary’s 0

Randy Tardiff scored at the 68th minute to lead the Demons to third place.

Todd Kessler finished with 10 saves for Bismarck.

Bismarck-St. Mary’s keeper Jordan Kenner also had 10 saves.

Fifth place

West Fargo 2, Grand Forks Central 1 (shootout)

Packers goalkeeper Braden Schmid stopped a shot by Knights defender Spencer Dusso in a shootout to secure a 2-1 victory in the fifth-place game.

Central got on the board first with a goal by Kris Scott in the 10th minute.

Cody Duncan squared the game with a penalty kick past Knights keeper Sean Cano in the 43rd minute.

Awards

All-tournament team

Fargo South: Tyler Richter, Tutey Gaylah, Matt Keim, Peter Orson, Shawn Kahler, Matt Crawford, Kyle Roesler. Bismarck-St. Mary’s: Kylan Stecher, Jordan Bartsch. Mandan: Grant Assand. Shanley: Matt Glogoza. Bismarck Century: Nick Anderson, Ryan Bucholz, Justin Ledger, David Marcis. Bismarck: Shane Kuntz, Alvin Garcia, Randy Tardiff. West Fargo: Daniel Hoy, Cody Duncan. Grand Forks Central: Kris Scott, David Sayler.

Coach of year: Dean Hashbarger, Fargo South

Athlete of year: Caleb Graham, Bismarck.

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Tags: state tournament, sports, jays, soccer, fargo, south