Only 25 minutes separated the Ankeny Centennial boys’ soccer team from completing an undefeated season with the first state title in program history.
Unfortunately, it wasn’t meant to be.
Second-ranked Waukee Northwest scored three late goals to beat the No. 1 Jaguars, 3-1, in the Class 4A championship game on Friday at Mediacom Stadium. It’s the first crown for the Wolves and the third for coach Carlos Acebey.
Centennial (17-1-2) earned runner-up honors for the second time. The Jaguars placed second in Class 3A in 2015.
“The boys battled,” said Centennial coach Brian Duax. “I mean, you watched the game, we beat their brakes off for the first half and then we got the (go-ahead) goal. And (then we just made) a couple of mistakes. A couple of mistakes will punish you, especially at this level.”
Northwest (20-1-1) took the lead for good when Eman Alicic converted a penalty kick at the 61:00 mark. He blasted the ball into the right side of the net for his 21st goal of the season.
Alicic also scored on a penalty kick to beat No. 4 Urbandale, 1-0, in Wednesday’s semifinals. His goal on Friday came after two players got tangled up in the right corner of the box, which led to a foul against the Jaguars.
“I didn’t think (the Wolves) were going to be dangerous except for set pieces, and the PK was a very iffy call,” Duax said.
Centennial desperately tried for an equalizer in the final minutes. A shot by Zachary Clark was batted away by Northwest goalkeeper Tate Schendel with about 6 minutes remaining.
Then, about a minute later, Tate Duax had another look at the goal. But his shot went just wide of the left post.
Centennial goalkeeper Will Krueger was back in the starting lineup after suffering an injury during Wednesday’s semifinal against Des Moines Roosevelt. He came out of the box in the final minute to deflect a shot, but Alicic regained possession of the ball and then took a touch around Krueger before passing to Jose Venales, who scored into an open net with 28.7 seconds left.
“We were pressing for another (goal),” Duax said. “Who cares if we lose 3-1 or 2-1?”
The Jaguars outshot Northwest by a 14-10 margin but also committed more fouls, 12-10. Centennial’s Andrew Krueger received a yellow card with about 8 minutes left.
The Wolves avenged their only loss of the season. They suffered the worst defeat in program history, 5-0, on April 7.
Tate Duax scored a goal about 90 seconds into the first meeting. He later added a pair of assists.
Duax entered Friday’s game with the most goals (28) and assists (20) in Class 4A. The Wolves were determined to make somebody other than Duax beat them.
“They were tripling him,” said coach Duax.
Still, the Northeastern University recruit found a way to make an impact. He assisted on the game’s first goal by Garrett Christensen at the 48:29 mark.
After taking a pass from Andrew Krueger, Duax tapped the ball around Schendel and maintained possession near the end line. Without an angle to take a shot, he crossed it to Christensen in front of the net and raised his arms in anticipation of the result.
Christensen then converted for his 11th goal of the season.
“Tate really just took it around the keeper, and then you’ve just got to be there for the opportunity to present itself, and it did,” Christensen said.
The Jaguars appeared to be on the cusp of a championship. However, the momentum from Wednesday’s thrilling come-from-behind win didn’t last much longer.
Northwest got an equalizer about 7 minutes later.
“I thought we could hold on,” Christensen said. “I thought it would just take one and then (the goals) would keep coming, but it was unfortunate that we had some calls that went against us and from there, things didn’t go our way.”
The Wolves tied the game after Centennial was unable to clear the ball on a throw-in from the left side. Northwest’s Samuel Temple lofted a pass to Sully Ervin on the right, and he rolled it past Krueger and into the left side of the net for the equalizer.
“I don’t think our guys were gassed,” coach Duax said. “I think it was just playing a good team and you make a couple of mistakes and this stuff happens unfortunately. On that first goal, we just got caught on the wrong side of one of their attackers.”
Tate Duax was named to the all-tournament team along with Centennial teammates Brock Brazeau and Ben Ridlen. They were part of the senior class that led the Jaguars to the best season in school history just two years after the team struggled to a 5-12 record.
“We’re proud of the whole team,” Christensen said.
Schendel was named the captain of the all-tournament team. He finished with six saves.
