ROUNDUP: Montgomery’s goal clinches state berth for Boulder City boys
MESQUITE — Boulder City boys soccer players stormed the field, pumping their fists and jumping for joy as they mobbed teammate Trevor Montgomery.
At the same time, White Pine players collapsed to the turf in a mix of exhaustion and heartbreak.
With two minutes remaining Friday night in double overtime and both teams preparing on the sidelines for penalty kicks, Montgomery brought a thrilling end to the Class 3A Southern League semifinal game.
The sophomore forward scored his second goal of the game to give the second-seeded Eagles a 2-1 win over third-seeded White Pine at the Mesquite Sports Complex.
“I was thinking PKs,” Montgomery said. “I wasn’t even expecting anything to happen. I was on the ground looking for a foul and the ball just popped up to me, and I was like, ‘I’ll shoot it.’”
With the win, Boulder City (8-5-2) clinched a trip to state. The Eagles will play No. 1 seed Faith Lutheran at 9 a.m. today to determine which team heads to state as the South’s No. 1 seed.
“It looked like it,” White Pine coach Leif Tokerud said when asked if he thought the game was headed to penalty kicks. “I have a lot of seniors and fully expect them to play through anything.”
But even with 14 seniors, White Pine (9-6-3) saw its season come to an abrupt end.
Montgomery’s first goal came in the final two minutes of the first half — mere moments after the Eagles almost surrendered an own goal.
Bradley Nilsen and Daniel Raddant assisted on the two goals.
The only goal for the Bobcats came on a second-half header by senior Tony Gomez.
Faith Lutheran 8, The Meadows 0 — Senior forward Ryan Sniezyk scored five goals to help the Crusaders clinch a trip to state.
Chris Ortwein, Terry Unruh and Wade Norman added goals for Faith Lutheran (14-0-1), which led 3-0 at halftime.
Trevor Tuggle had two assists for the Crusaders. Norman, Chris Longi, David Edson and Tyler Koerwitz each added one assist.
Marc Davies had five saves in the shutout.
The Meadows, which rallied from a 4-12 season a year ago to reach the postseason for the first time under fourth-year coach Garry Shackley, finished 7-8.