Douglas Miles

Your Prep Sports

IOWA CITY – Day to day, year to year, one word is frequently used within the West High boys’ soccer program.

“Consistent.”

When it comes to state tournament berths, no program in the history of Iowa boys’ soccer exemplifies that term better than the remarkable Trojans.

“I’ll put most of it on the coaches,” West senior Haider Nasr said after the Class 4A fourth-ranked Trojans routed Dubuque Hempstead, 6-0, in a substate final Wednesday night at Barker Field. “They know exactly what they’re doing. (West Coach) Brad Stiles is a genius. (West Assistant Coach) Quentin (Fisher) is a genius. They’re all geniuses. They know what they’re doing and they get us prepared right for every single game.”

The victory propelled West High (19-2) to the state tournament for the eighth season in a row and 24th time in program history, including 23 of the last 24 seasons.

No school has more appearances at state.

“A lot of pride,” West High junior Caden Crabtree said. “If you look around, everybody is smiling. There is no one that is not happy about it. Stiles built this program and he’s keeping it going.”

Stiles has coached 22 of West High’s 24 state-qualifying teams since 2001.

Though the names and faces change with each graduating class, the winning tradition endures.

“It is a true testament when our players come back to the program to help out and volunteer,” Stiles said. “It’s just something that I really enjoy, as far as the tradition, that gets carried from year to year.”

The scoring onslaught did not begin immediately.

The match was a scoreless stalemate until the 38th minute when Nasr launched a long strike over the outstretched grasp of the Hempstead goalkeeper.

“I just took a touch and I just hit it,” Nasr said. “My coaches always tell me, ‘Just put your laces through it’ and that is exactly what I did. I just hit it and it went in.”

Twelve minutes into the second half, Nasr kickstarted a flurry of goals with a crisp penalty kick conversion.

The score was his second of the match and fifth this season.

Over the next six minutes, a trio of Trojans – Ismail Mohamed, Meshaal Mohamed and Kaleab Wendy – tacked on goals, the rout was on and the state tournament was in sight.

“It’s great to have momentum like that,” Nasr said. “Everybody getting on the scoresheet. I started off the momentum. It feels good to be the one to start it off. I think the team just needed somebody to step up and that is what I did. Every day it changes. Everyone is playing their part.”

Reserve forward Steven Rodriguez finished off the scoring in the 70th minute.

West High earned the No. 4 seed for the 2024 state tournament, which will open with a quarterfinal match against No. 5 West Des Moines Valley (18-3) May 29 at 7 p.m. at Cownie Soccer Complex in Des Moines.

The Trojans began the season with a 2-0 home shutout of Valley nearly two months ago.

“These guys are looking forward to it,” Stiles said. “We just need a week to prepare.”

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