Second-ranked Regina Downs Mid-Prairie to Return to State Tournament
Ryan Murken
Your Prep Sports
IOWA CITY – The current seniors on the Regina roster where sophomores when the Regals saw their string of consecutive state tournament appearances end at 13.
Those same seniors were responsible for starting a new state tournament streak on Wednesday.
Second-ranked Regina (15-3) secured its second straight state tournament appearance with a 2-0 win over River Valley Conference rival Mid-Prairie in the Class 1A, Substate 7 title game at Regal Field in Iowa City.
“It’s huge,” Regina senior Quinn Warren said. “When we didn’t make it to state my sophomore it was a young team and this year it’s a lot of those same guys, a lot of older guys, a lot of seniors and it means a lot that we can start the streak back up again.”
Warren and fellow senior Jack Hoover each scored goals on Wednesday, the 17th of the season for both, as Regina advanced to the 1A state tournament for the 16th time in program history and the 15th time in the past 16 seasons.
Mid-Prairie, which defeated second-seeded Hillcrest Academy in the substate semifinals on Monday, finished the season 10-8.
“It’s very important,” Hoover said of returning to state. “Regina has won a lot of state championships and we want to keep that going so not making it a few years just motivated us to keep getting back there.”
Few teams statewide have been to the state tournament more often than Regina.
Only West High, West Des Moines Valley, Bettendorf and Cedar Rapids Xavier have more than the Regals’ 16 appearances.
Given that history of success a substate final loss to Dyersville Beckman in 2021 was a bit of a shock for the current seniors.
Warren, Hoover and the rest of the Regals made sure that didn’t happen again on Wednesday and head to Des Moines for a 1A quarterfinal next week seeking the ninth title in program history.
“A lot of these guys got a taste of it last year and we are wanting more this year,” Warren said. “We are shooting for everything.”
Warren gave Regina an early lead and a first-half jolt with a goal just 10 minutes into the match.
“I’ve been thinking about getting those quick goals,” Warren said. “I just put in the goal and hoped for a mistake there.”
It remained 1-0 Regals until late in the second half when Hoover matched his senior teammate with a goal.
Hoover slipped a shot from the left side of the box inside the right post to give Regina a 2-0 lead with 10:53 remaining.
“When you are up 1-0 it’s a little nerve-wracking because anything can happen,” Hoover said. “You want to try to keep capitalizing on opportunities and we missed a couple but we just had to keep pushing and once we got that second one it takes the other team out of the game.”
Hoover’s goal gave Regina an insurance goal that it wouldn’t actually need.
A strong all-around defensive effort helped Regina posted its 11th shutout of the season.
“I think we’ve blown expectations out of the water defensively,” Regina senior Ty Joss said. “We were confident with our back line at the start of the season but we weren’t sure how good it would but I think guys have really proved themselves.”
Regina has allowed just one goal in four consecutive wins since a 2-1 setback to top-ranked West Branch on May 6.
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