In just its second year of existence, the Greene County High School boys’ soccer team is on the verge of attaining a major goal, a trip to the Class 1A State Tournament next week in Des Moines. Coach Carl Behne’s Rams won 2-1 in Oakland over Riverside last night on the Bulldogs’ home field, in a Substate 8 semifinal. Next up is top seed and sixth ranked AHSTW (Avoca) on Saturday at noon. Coach Behne told Raccoon Valley Radio there is a chance the substate final will be moved due to poor field conditions in Oakland. He said he should know more today.

Last night’s battle saw number 13 Riverside take a 1-0 lead with 90 seconds left in the opening half on a header off a corner kick. Sophomore Luis Velazco answered for the Rams with just 52 seconds remaining in half number one and the teams went to intermission tied, 1-1. The lone goal in the second half came from the leader scorer in Iowa high school boys’ soccer, Junior Gutierrez, on an assist from Velazco, with 11:45 left to play. Gutierrez, a junior, has 52 goals this season, and Velazco has 26.

The eighth ranked Rams improved to 13-5 while the Bulldogs’ season ends at 14-4. Coach Behne said it was a hard fought match on tough field conditions. “Two days of rain were not kind to the Oakland, Iowa field.” The coach added, “Our defense was very strong and held off many diagonal runs by Riverside. Cale (Fisher) played very well in goal, pulling in 11 saves.”

AHSTW pulled out a 2-1 win over Underwood in a Shootout in Wednesday’s first match after 80 minutes of regulation play and two 10-minute overtime periods left the score tied 1-1.