Ryan Murken

Your Prep Sports

DES MOINES – No coach has better perfected the recipe for state tournament success than Brad Stiles.

Stiles and his Trojans have things cooking at the right time once again.

Sixth-ranked West High ran its winning streak to 13 and advanced to the state title game for the 15^th time in the past 23 seasons on Thursday with a 3-0 win over No. 2 West Des Moines Dowling (16-3) in a Class 4A semifinal at wet and warm Cownie Soccer Complex in Des Moines.

“It’s big for our program to be back here,” Stiles said. “I’m happy for our guys but we have another game to play.”

Stiles has directed West High to a state-record nine titles in 14 previous trips to the state championship match.

The recipe for success this season has been early offense backed up by stellar defense.

West High used that same formula in a 2-0 quarterfinal win over Cedar Rapids Kennedy on Wednesday.

On Thursday it was more of the same as West High jumped to earn early lead just 64 seconds into the match and posted its second shutout in as many days and seventh during its current winning streak.

“This feels good because last year we had a first-round exit and that was pretty tough,” West High junior keeper Jacob Gilliam said. “It feels a lot better getting two wins at the state tournament back-to-back days.”

West High (17-2) will be seeking its 10^th state title when it faces third-ranked Johnston (16-3) in the Class 4A title game on Saturday at 7 p.m.

The Dragons defeated Ankeny Centennial 3-1 in the other 4A semifinal on Thursday.

“The game is not over, we still have one more,” West High junior Ismail Mohamed said. “We are on to the finals and yes we are happy but we aren’t going to celebrate because we still have one more game and we need to finish this one out.”

For the second day in a row West High got an early offensive spark.

This time it was sophomore Daniel Fuentes who scored in the 2^nd minute of the game with a rocket into the upper left-hand corner of the goal from the left side of the box.

“Setting the tone is really major in soccer,” West High senior Michael Nelson said. “I think we’ve done that so far in the state tournament and hopefully we continue to do that next game.”

Nelson added two goals for West High, giving him three for the tournament as the Trojans returned to the title game for the third time in four seasons.

“Once we scored we knew we had an advantage and as soon as we scored we looked for another one,” Mohamed said. “We connect with each other and we just vibe.”

Nelson gave West High a 2-0 cushion with a goal with 5:27 remaining in the first half.

The senior standout made it 3-0 when he scored with 21:30 remaining in the match.

“I’ve learned how to read the game a little better and people’s movement to make it easier on myself,” Nelson said. “I think that really helped a lot. The first goal I knew I had a one-on-one chance and I was able to turn him at the right moment and put it away.”

Gilliam did the rest as he and the West High defense kept West Des Moines Dowling off the scoreboard for just the second time this season.

West Des Moines Dowling had a six-match winning streak snapped with the loss.

“I have a goal keeper who came into his own,” Stiles said. “Two shutouts at the state tournament against two good teams is pretty huge. Credit to the back line and the guys track back and all those things but it could have easily been 1-1 I think at about eight or 10 minutes and it wasn’t because of him.”

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