Ryan Murken

Your Prep Sports

State soccer titles will be up for grabs next Saturday at Cownie Soccer Complex in Des Moines.

Before attention turns to the three-day state soccer tournament next week teams must first earn a trip to Des Moines with a substate final win on Saturday morning.

For the second consecutive season four area teams will be vying for state tournament berths on Saturday and all four have home field advantage.

Regina, Solon, West High and City High all host substate final matches on Saturday with the winner earning a spot at the state soccer tournament that opens May 31 in Des Moines.

Here is a quick look at each of the four substate final matches involving area teams.

Class 1A, Substate 3

No. 8 Dyersville Beckman (12-6) at No. 1 Regina (14-3)  

When: Saturday, Noon

Where: Regal Stadium in Iowa City 

Player to Watch: With 14 goals and 17 assists Dyersville Beckman junior Owen Grover has had directly accounted for half of the Blazers scoring this season.   

Breakdown: One team is going to have a long string of consecutive state tournament appearances snapped on Saturday as the two titans of Class 1A soccer meet in the substate finals.

Regina and Dyersville Beckman have combined to win eight of the nine Class 1A state titles since the state went to three classes before the 2009 season and have accounted for each of the last five 1A champions.

Beckman won back-to-back titles in 2015 and 2016 before Regina won its sixth time in the past nine years last season.

Top-ranked Regina enters riding a five-match winning streak that started with a 1-0 win over 3A No. 13 Pleasant Valley on May 8.

Regina is seeking its 11th consecutive state tournament appearance and won the regular season meeting with Beckman 2-1 on April 21.

Beckman is chasing a seventh consecutive state tournament trip and has won three straight following back-to-back 2-1 losses to Davenport Assumption and Postville earlier this month.

Grover leads the three Blazers with double digit goals this season with 14 while Blake Lammers has 12 goals and Connor McDermott 11.

Senior Nick Pechous has scored a team-high 14 goals for Regina and freshman Alec Wick has 10 goals.

Class 1A, Substate 5

No. 2 Iowa Mennonite (17-1) at No. 3 Solon (15-5)

When: Saturday, Noon

Where: Spartan Stadium in Solon

Player to Watch: Senior Cole Ours has helped take Iowa Mennonite from a five-win team in 2015 to one of the best teams in Class 1A this season. Ours has 15 goals and 10 assists this season and has scored 34 goals and added 22 while helping IMS to a 30-5 record the past two seasons.

Breakdown: This one feels like more of a state semifinal than a substate final.

Second-ranked Iowa Mennonite and third-ranked Solon meet in the premier substate final in the state at Spartan Stadium.

It is tough to imagine a more difficult postseason path for a second-ranked team than what Iowa Mennonite faces in its bid to return to the state tournament for the first time since 2000.

IMS had to avenge its only loss of the season to reach the substate title game, knocking off seventh-ranked Burlington Notre Dame 2-1 in the semifinals.

The semifinal win over Burlington Notre Dame was the second of the season for IMS over the Nikes.

Iowa Mennonite also owns wins over top-ranked Regina and sixth-ranked Williamsburg.

Four players have scored double digit goals for IMS.

Louis Etienne has a team-high 16 to go with 15 from Ourts while Isiah Swantz has 12 and Jacob Boller 10.

Solon enters riding a three-match winning streak following back-to-back 5-0 postseason wins over Highland and Fort Madison Holy Trinity.

Jorel Justus has scored three of his team-high 23 goals in postseason wins while junior Luke Yetley has added 13 goals and 10 assists and Luke McInnis has 10 goals.

Solon enters the substate final third in Class 1A with 88 goals while Iowa Mennonite is fifth with 75 goals on the season.

Class 3A, Substate 5

Ottumwa (13-5) at No. 4 City High (15-4)

When: Saturday, Noon

Where: University of Iowa Soccer Complex in Iowa City 

Player to Watch: Senior Luis Barojas leads Ottumwa with 14 goals and seven assists this season.  

Breakdown: City High steamrolls into the substate finals riding a four-match winning streak in which it has outscored opponents 18-0.

John Clark leads a list of three Little Hawks with double digit goals this season with a team-high 16 but it has been the work of the City High defense that has stood out over the last month.

Seven of the 11 shutouts for City High this season have come in its last eight matches, a stretch in which the Little Hawks have allowed just one goal.

City High owns the fourth longest active streak of consecutive state tournament appearances at six and will look to that on Saturday against an Ottumwa team seeking its first ever trip to state.

The Bulldogs lost two of three earlier this month but have rebounded to post back-to-back wins by a combined score of 11-0.

Barojas has been at the center of the Ottumwa attack with 14 goals while Alex Fansisco has added 10 goals and Emerson Torres has eight.

Class 3A, Substate 3

No. 15 Cedar Rapids Kennedy (11-5) at No. 5 West High (16-3)  

When: Saturday, Noon

Where: Barker Field in Iowa City

Player to Watch: West High junior Gada Ambo is a difference maker up top for the Trojans and ranks eighth in Class 3A with 18 goals after scoring four in a substate semifinal win over Dubuque Hempstead.

Breakdown: Defending state champion West High is seeking a third consecutive trip to state since having its state-record 15-year string of state tournament appearances end in 2015.

The Trojans got hot at the right time last season, winning the state title as the eight seed after blasting Waterloo West in the substate finals.

West High appears to be playing its best soccer at the right time again this spring and enters Saturday’s substate final riding an 11-match winning streak.

The Trojans have outscored opponents 41-4 during its current winning streak that started after a 2-1 loss to City High on April 21.

West High won the regular season meeting with Kennedy 3-1 back on April 17.

Kennedy is attempt to reach the state tournament for the first time since 2012 after upsetting seventh-ranked Cedar Rapids Washington in the substate semifinals.

The semifinal win came after the Cougars defeated Washington 4-1 during the regular season.

Four players have scored more than six goals for Kennedy led by Alan Kim with 11 and Alex Stone and Yusef Igram with seven each.

Stone has a team-high 14 assists for the Cougars.