Harvest Christian savors first boys soccer regional title

It had already been a crazy ride for Harvest Christian this season on the way to its first regional title and on Friday it wasn't without a wild finish.

With 12:55 left in the Class 1A boys soccer regional championship game against St. Edward at Westminster Christian, Austin White scored his second goal of the game to break a 2-2 tie. The Lions (12-3-3) then dodged several bullets in the final minutes to hold on for a 3-2 win.

"We have been working at this for four years and we set a goal at the beginning of this year of winning a regional title," Harvest coach Jason Acres said. "It's really exciting to be able to accomplish that goal. These kids have worked so hard. This is just an incredible feeling."

The Lions advance to Tuesday's 4:30 p.m. sectional semifinal at Byron, where they will play Hinckley-Big Rock.

White's go-ahead goal came after St. Edward had tied the score at 2-2 on Will Gaston's second goal of the game with 23:02 left to play.

"It was a grind especially with the muddy field conditions," White said. "We just never gave up and always kept pushing. This is just a crazy feeling. I can't believe it."

St. Edward (11-9) had 3 golden scoring opportunities to tie in the final 10 minutes, but just couldn't cash in. With 9:55 left Kevin Barden hit the crossbar on a curving shot from 20 yards. Barden later had a shot sail high after he had dribbled past a defender to break free in the box. With less than a minute to play Gaston had a wide open header off a cross pass, but Harvest goalie Noah Fox made a game-saving diving save. Fox had 9 saves in the game.

"There were some scary moments at the end, but we did what we had to do," said Fox. "This has been an incredible ride. It just feels surreal right now."

St. Edward opened the scoring on Gaston's first goal with 23:51 left in the first half. However, 32 seconds later Harvest answered back with a goal from Raphael DeSouza. The Lions later took a 2-1 lead before the half on White's first goal of the game.

St. Edward had a 21-12 shot advantage, but couldn't take advantage.

"It was just one of those games where we couldn't get the ball in the net enough," St. Edward coach Tim Brieger said. "It stings when you know you had your chances."