Three area soccer teams vied for State titles Saturday

MIDDLETON, Idaho (KMVT/KSVT) — Saturday marked the final day of the 2023 Idaho State soccer season and Middleton High School was the site of the 3A and 4A boys and girls championship matches.

The morning began with the Sun Valley Community School Cutthroats taking on the Sugar-Salem Diggers in a matchup of top seeds. The Diggers got the scoring going on a penalty kick early in the first half and added a second goal midway through on a blistering shot from outside the goalie box.

From there Sun Valley controlled the game creating chance after chance and even hitting a bar-down shot that stayed out. Eventually Easton Turck put the Cutthroats on the board with a header goal with about 15 minutes left in the game, however Sun Valley was unable to score again and they end up with a second place finish in a 2-1 loss to Sugar-Salem.

The girls side of 3A featured the Kimberly Bulldogs who had lost one game all year and it happened to be their title game opponent, the Sugar-Salem Diggers. The Diggers made the final in both boys and girls, however the ladies entered undefeated.

Minutes into the game Sugar-Salem’s Dakota Weekes took a low bouncing shot that just snuck by the Kimberly keeper Abby Johnson to give the Diggers an early 1-0 lead. After the first goal Johnson settled in very well and ended up with double digit saves on the afternoon, however the offense needed to get going.

The Bulldogs had two very solid chances in the second half that were shut down by the great defense of Sugar-Salem and unfortunately for Kimberly the rematch between theses two was much closer, but the result was the same as the Diggers finished off their undefeated season with a championship and won the title in both boys and girls.

In 4A, the top-seeded Wood River Wolverines took on the Sandpoint Bulldogs and it was the underdogs getting on the board first as their corner kick hit off of a Wolverines defender and deflected into the net to give Sandpoint the early advantage.

However a brief stoppage gave Wood River a chance to regroup and their first goal came courtesy of Jack Tierney who was wide open on the doorstep after the ball bounced all over the goalie box.

A short while later Hayden Gvozdas reigned in the ball after a Wolverines corner kick and chipped the ball up to charging defenseman Conrad Foster who headed the ball into the back of the net to give Wood River the lead.

The top-seed dominated from this point and in the final five minutes Brandon Marroquin added the insurance goal as the Wolverines would take home the boys 4A state title with a 3-1 win over Sandpoint.

Copyright 2023 KMVT. All rights reserved.