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Ryan Murken

Your Prep Sports

DES MOINES – In a matter of seconds Jonah Warren watched his entire prep soccer career flash before his eyes.

As he set up for a penalty kick in the final 10 minutes of a scoreless Class 1A title match on Tuesday Warren envisioned himself winning a state championship.

Just seconds later he saw that dream slipping away.

“I did kind of see everything,” Warren said. “I thought I’d won it and lost it all in a few seconds.”

The wild sequence ended with Warren breathing a deep sigh of relief and Regina celebrating a third consecutive state title.

Warren had a penalty kick stopped in the 73rd minute but followed up his own miss to score the only goal of the match as second-ranked Regina (18-6) won its third straight Class 1A state title with a 1-0 win over top-ranked Waterloo Columbus at Cownie Soccer Complex in Des Moines.

“At first it was just shock,” Warren said of his penalty kick being stopped. “After that it was just reacting as fast as possible. When it went in it was a big sigh of relief.”

The second goal in as many matches for Warren capped an impressive run through the 1A field for Regina which pushed it state-tournament winning streak to nine.

With the win Regina improved to 8-0 all-time in state title matches and claimed its eighth state title, second most in state history, in the last 11 seasons.

“I’m most proud of these guys growing up, growing up was a lot harder for these guys than some other classes and growing up is a lot harder than playing soccer,” Regina coach Rick Larew said. “I am very proud of these guys.”

The two teams split a pair of regular season matches in April with Waterloo Columbus (20-3) winning the most recent matchup 4-0.

That 4-0 setback was the last loss of the season for Regina to a 1A opponent.

“We didn’t talk about it much but I was glad that they smacked us around because that way we were going to take them serious,” Larew said. “The guys always listen more when they lose.”

The rubber match was virtually even from the outset.

Neither team could garner much offensive footing early and both missed on best scoring opportunities in the final 12 minutes of the first half.

Waterloo Columbus had its best chance in the 29th minute when Joseph Ko found Noah Lumpe alone at the back post but his header sailed just high.

Regina had a chance to take a lead but sophomore leading scorer Alec Wick had a shot from inside the 18-yard box saved by keeper Aidan Schmitz in the 34th minute.

“We knew they were a good, they had beaten us before, we had beaten them so we knew it could go either way,” Warren said. “They are just a great team, they have a great defense and it was just a physical tough game.”

Scoring chances were few and far between for both sides in the second half.

Regina finally broke through when Wick took a through ball and split two defenders before being taken down in the box.

Waterloo Columbus was whistled for a foul setting up the penalty kick for Warren.

“Our plan was a little different today, we were going to try to chip it over the middle of their back line and we kept going again, again and again and eventually we got a breakaway,” Larew said. “They defended it very well and we finally got that breakaway and that was it.”

Warren hit a low shot that Schmitz deflected but was not able to control.

The ball bounced straight back toward Warren who put it into the left corner of the net for his fourth goal of the season.

“I saw it blocked and then I saw it bounce up in the air and I knew he was going to get a shot at it I was just hoping he didn’t sky it over,” Regina senior Kieler Brown said. “I didn’t want him to hit it too high but he was calm and put it right in.”

The rebound was all reaction for Warren.

“I just reacted,” Warren said. “It was a good feeling when I saw it coming back to me.”

That was all the offense Regina would need as it held the second highest scoring team in 1A scoreless for just the second time this season.

The loss snapped a 12-match winning streak for Waterloo Columbus which was making its first title game appearance since winning the 1A title in 2012.

“We were just happy to get another opportunity,” Brown said. “They are a great team, we knew this was coming we thought they would make it out of the other side and it was a great game.”

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