Ryan Murken

Your Prep Sports

DES MOINES – In sports sometimes it’s not about how you start it’s how you finish.

Few players in the state can finish better than West High senior Kolby Godbolt.

Godbolt scored four goals as third-ranked West High overcame an early deficit with five unanswered goals in a 5-1 win over No. 11 Sioux City West (15-3) in a Class 3A state quarterfinal on Tuesday at Cownie Soccer Complex in Des Moines.

“A special finisher is the word I use,” West High coach Brad Stiles said of Godbolt.

Godbolt was certainly special on Tuesday.

He­ single-handed pulled West High of a 1-0 deficit scoring the Trojan’s first four goals as West High (19-1) pushed its winning streak to 17 straight and advanced to the 3A semifinals for the fourth consecutive season.

West High will be seeking a second consecutive state title game appearance on Thursday when it faces fourth-ranked West Des Moines Valley (17-4) in a 3A semifinal at 5 p.m.

West Des Moines Valley defeated sixth-ranked Ankeny Centennial 1-0 via penalty kicks in a 3A quarterfinal on Tuesday.

“I didn’t really perform earlier in the substate and we were tied 1-1 and I knew I had to do something to help the team advance to Thursday because if we lose now it’s over,” Godbolt said. “I just gave my full effort and luckily the outcome came to be four goals.”

Making its first state tournament appearance since 2015 Sioux City West looked at home early.

The Wolverines put pressure on top-seeded West High early when Abe Ponce sent a ball into the box and Jamie Perez converted with a header for a 1-0 lead with 10:22 left in the opening half.

It was all Godbolt and West High the rest of the way.

“I knew it was only a matter of time, we had four or five chances that we should have put away before they scored the first goal,” Godbolt said. “I wasn’t worried when they scored.”

Godbolt got the equalizer 22 seconds before halftime when he got behind the Sioux City West defense and beat keeper Cesar Vazquez in a one-on-one situation.

“I knew once I scored that one that more were coming,” Godbolt said. “It was just getting that first goal in, once one comes everyone starts rolling.”

Even at halftime West High went to work in the second half.

“The halftime speech was all about positivity,” Stiles said. “We told them the goals are coming it’s not like we are not creating things. Their goal keeper did really well at the beginning of the game.”

Godbolt gave West High its first lead of the game when he again out ran the Sioux City West defense and chased down a ball over the top from Andy Lu.

The senior forward took one touch and chipped a shot over Vazquez that put West High up 2-1 with 24:09 left.

“It wasn’t the goal that was the long range shot it was the one where he cuts across and touches it away,” Stiles said while raving about Godbolt’s finishing skill. “That is something that you don’t teach or you don’t coach, you have that knack and if you have the timing and acceleration to do it which he does then it gets done.”

Incredibly, that was just the start for Godbolt.

He scored twice in a span of less than two minutes to complete his hat trick and put the game away.

First, he beat a pair of defenders and fired in a shot from 40 yards out into the upper right-hand corner of the goal. “I got the ball and I saw the space over towards the left, which I am left-footed so I knew that’s the way I wanted to go,” Godbolt said. “I hit it and I just watched it go in.”
Godbolt capped his scoring when he slipped in a shot from inside the box with 13:09 left that made it 4-1 Trojans.

The final goal pushed his team-high season total to 20.

“He was definitely due,” Stiles said. “He put in a little extra training during the long weekend and I think his confidence is back.”

Corentin Charles capped the scoring with a goal with 10:23 left that gave West High a 5-1 lead.

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