BILLINGS — The Polson U14 boys’ soccer team brought home a state championship from the State Cup soccer tournament hosted by the Montana Youth Soccer Association in Billings.

Polson defeated a tough Flathead Rapids Black team from Whitefish in the final, 2-1. The boys had earned two victories and one loss in pool play, with their loss coming at the hands of this same Flathead Rapids team. Still, Polson’s record was good enough to qualify them for the semifinals in the wildcard spot.

In the semifinal game, Polson faced a tough opponent in the Bozeman Blitzz White team. We had beaten them earlier in the season and they were ready for a re-match. After playing to a defensive standstill through most of the first half, Bozeman broke the scoreless tension with a goal with six minutes remaining in the first half.

The second half offered more of the same, as the two teams’ defenses played strongly and neutralized each other’s attacks. Polson goalkeeper Russell Smith had a terrific day in goal with several spectacular saves.

With time ticking down, however, our boys kept attacking and finally Michael Vergeront connected on a beautiful cross to Mack Moderie up the middle and Mack made a well-placed shot on goal that tied it up with 3:30 remaining.

As seconds ticked away, both teams tried to mount attacks on goal, but with 35 seconds to go, Mack took a lead-out pass from Nico River, drove the ball through the Blitzz defense single-handedly, and buried a shot in the goal to give us the 2-1 victory.

The next day, provided perfect weather conditions for a championship game, which proved to be a re-match with the Flathead Rapids team we had lost to on Saturday morning.

These were two teams with excellent defenses and the first half, again, provided a defensive battle, but as the half wore on, Whitefish seemed better able to organize themselves offensively and began to pepper our goal with shots.

The Polson defense, however, bent but did not break, and goalkeeper, Russell Smith, had another outstanding day in goal for the Polson side, making diving save after diving save to keep the score at zeros at the end of the first half. At halftime the team re-grouped and came out playing like a different team, shutting down the Whitefish attack defensively and counterattacking upfield relentlessly.

With 16’ elapsed in the second half, Polson’s Connor Young booted a long free kick toward the goal and Omar Carrillo was there to knock in the rebound after the Rapids goalie couldn’t hang on to the ball.

Whitefish battled back, though, and with four minutes remaining they scored on a long, powerful shot to equalize the score. Feverish efforts to get another goal were unsuccessful for either side, and regulation time ended with a 1-1 tie.

The score was still tied at 1-1 at the end of the first ten-minute overtime period, despite Polson’s relentless offensive pressure that kept the Rapids back on their heels.

With 5:47 elapsed in the second overtime period, however, Polson took a perfectly-placed corner kick and there was a mad scramble in front of the goal. Linde Lambson got his head on the ball to knock it to Nico River, who re-directed the ball past the goalkeeper and into the goal to put Polson ahead for good.

Our boys held on with solid defense and offensive pressure to keep the Rapids neutralized until the referee blew the final whistle. Our side had earned the state championship with terrific team play, total team defense and selfless offensive teamwork that saw nine different boys score at least one goal.