The first Boys’ State Soccer Tournament appearance for Greene County didn’t end the way the Rams wanted it to, but the 2-1 overtime loss to two-time Class 1A defending champion Regina Catholic of Iowa City in Friday’s State Tournament quarterfinal round in Des Moines erased any doubt, if there was any, about the second year program from Greene County. Twice the Rams played Regina this year and both times the game went beyond regulation. The Regina program is seeking its eighth State title, all since 2005, and they improved to 28-7 all-time at State. Coach Carl Behne’s Rams are just in their second year as a program.

Regina scored first on Friday on a goal by Alex Wick with just 3:47 played. Sophomore Luis Velasco tied the score with 8:41 to play in the first half on an assist by Junior Gutierrez, the State’s leading scorer, who finished his junior season with 55 goals and 124 points. The game winner for the Regals came just 75 seconds into OT on a Drew Hartwig goal that improved Regina to 16-6 and ended the Rams second season of soccer at 14-6. All but one of the losses came to State tournament teams, and four were to teams that advanced to Saturday’s semifinals.

The Rams scored 107 goals this season and only 10 came from seniors. Austin Delp had six goals with four from Isaiah Losee. Defender Victor Santos did not score and Joe Anderson had limited minutes. The future appears to be bright for Ram soccer.