The Heart of Iowa Activities Conference currently has eight schools, but only five have soccer programs. Three of the five, Greene County, Nevada, and Perry, all qualified for the 2023 Class 2A State Tournament, and this season, Perry has a 3-2 overtime win vs. the Rams, and a 2-1 victory vs. the Cubs.

Last night at Linduska Field in Jefferson, the Rams and Cubs played to see who would finish as the conference runner-up and it was Greene County winning by a final of 3-2 on a goal with just 49 seconds of regulation play remaining. Senior Gesser Gutierres scored the second of his two goals to break a 2-2 tie with senior Nathan Behne assisting on the goal, his 21st of the season. Gutierres now has 39 goals this season and 108 for his career. The Cubs had one last chance and came close to tying the score, but the Rams held on to improve to 9-2 while Nevada fell to 6-9. Behne scored the first goal of the match in the first half. It was his sixteenth of the season and a Nevada Penalty kick tied it at 1-1. The first Gutierres goal put the Rams ahead with 3:40 remaining in half number one. The Cubs tied the score less than seven minutes into the second half and it stayed tied 2-2 until the late heroics by the Rams.

Coach Carl Behne’s Rams improved to 1-2 in one goal contests while the Cubs have now lost six of the seven matches they’ve played decided by a single goal.

Greene County plays in Wall Lake this Friday vs. East Sac County to end the regular season at 5:30 p.m., followed by the girls’ teams from the same two schools playing after the boys are done. The Rams open Class 2A boys’ Substate 7 soccer on Monday, May 13 at Linduska Field in Jefferson vs. Panorama at 7 p.m.