Prior to Saturday’s 5-2 victory over sixth ranked AHSTW (Avoca) in Oakland at Riverside High School to win the Class 1A Substate 8 title, Greene County boys’ head soccer coach Carl Behne believed his team was among Iowa’s best 1A programs. Following the three goal victory over a higher rated team, those beliefs were confirmed and now Behne’s eighth ranked Rams (14-5) are seeded fifth in the eight team State Tournament field and will face fourth seed, second ranked, and two-time defending State Champion Iowa City Regina (15-6) at 12:05 p.m. on Thursday, May 30 in the quarterfinals of the State Tournament at the James Cownie Soccer Complex on the Southeast side of Des Moines. The winner meets either top seed North Polk (Alleman) or West Liberty in a semifinal at noon on Friday, May 31. The Rams lost in the regular season to Regina 4-3 in a penalty kicks shootout, and fell to NP 2-1 in Heart of Iowa Activities Conference play. They have not met West Liberty. Waterloo Columbus, Center Point-Urbana, Sioux Center, and Iowa Mennonite (Kalyna) are on the bottom part of the bracket.

The Greene County soccer program is in just its second year of existence, yet the Greene County coach and assistant coach Chad Black have assembled a team made up of players from four different countries and all four high school grade levels with varying amounts of experience on soccer fields. The Rams have the overall scoring leader in Iowa high school boys’ soccer in Junior Gutierrez, who has 55 goals and 123 points this season. Luis Velazco has 27 goals and ran track this Spring while playing soccer. He also serves as the unofficial interpreter for team members who speak Spanish as their first language. Goalkeeper Cael Fisher had appendix surgery late in the season, but returned in time for the post season. The loss to Regina took place when Fisher was out of action. He and the defense are allowing less than two goals per match while the offense averages more than five goals per contest.

All Greene County State Tournament matches will be broadcast on KGRA 98.9 FM and streamed on www.racconvalleyradio.com. Air time Thursday is 11:45 a.m.