The whirlwind of Iowa high school boys’ postseason soccer continues for the Greene County Rams. Playing, and winning, three matches between May 20 and May 25, put the Rams, under the direction of head coach Carl Behne and assistant coach Chad Black, into this weeks’ Class 1A State Tournament in Des Moines at the James W. Cownie Soccer Complex on the southeast side of Iowa’s Capital city.

The Rams play Regina Catholic of Iowa City at 12:05 p.m. in a quarterfinal contest. The contrast between the teams in terms of State Tournament experience is about as different as it gets. Regina is a State Tourney regular and has won the last two 1A titles, in 2017 and ’18. The Rams are making their first State trip in just the second year of Greene County having its own soccer program. The teams met in early May at the Nevada tournament with the Regals winning 4-3 on a penalty kick shootout. The Rams were missing regular goalkeeper Cael Fisher for that one due to appendix surgery.

Coach Behne talked about making it to State. “Extremely proud of the boys. They’ve put in work for a long time and now they’re seeing the benefits. So, getting to go down and face the top teams, and be a top time, which we felt like we were all year. Coming into the season we felt like we could compete. We set this as a goal and believed that we could do it. It’s fun to get to have that goal come to fruition.”

Coverage on KG98 and streaming on www.raccoonvalleyradio.com starts at 11:45 Thursday morning with kickoff at 12:05 p.m. from Field #8 at the Cownie Soccer Complex.