FARGO -- West Fargo goalie Braden Schmid made the game-winning save -- after two overtimes went scoreless and the game was sent into penalty kicks -- to give the Packers a 2-1 win over Grand Forks Central on Saturday in the fifth-place game of the North Dakota state tournament.
The Packers made four penalty kicks to Central's three.
"We had our fifth guy going up, and their goalie saved it, so there was no way we could tie it up at that point," Central coach Mike Wilber said. "They ended up winning on that save.
"We had one more kick, and we could have possibly sent it into a second round, but their goalie made a really good save to win it for them."
Schmid finished with 10 saves in the match, as did Central goalie Sean Cano.
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"West Fargo came out and were really pressuring us and playing a lot faster than us for about 60 of 80 minutes," Wilber said. "The last 20 minutes of the game, we kind of turned the momentum around and had some chances.
"Both teams had a couple of decent chances, but it ended up going into penalty kicks."
Kris Scott scored the lone goal for the Knights, who ended the season 11-6-4.
"This is one of the better teams I've coached," Wilber said. "It's a good senior class and they've always been able to rise to the occasion. It was a really good year -- to finish with 11 wins and make it to the state tournament is a really big deal, so we're happy."
Earlier in the day, Central defeated Fargo Shanley 2-1 to advance to the fifth-place match. Scott and David Sayler scored goals against Shanley, while Cano had five saves.
Championship
South 1, Century 0
The monkey is finally off the back of the Fargo South boys soccer team.
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Matt Keim scored in the fifth minute to help the Bruins exorcize past playoff demons with a 1-0 victory against Bismarck Century in the North Dakota state tournament championship Saturday at Sid Cichy Stadium.
"These kids came together and they worked so hard this year -- just like Century did," said South coach Dean Hashbarger, who was named the state's coach of the year for a second straight season. "The success that we had this year, it would have been a disappointment (to lose). And it's not a disappointment to get here and lose in a state championship game. But their sights were set on this game ever since the beginning of the year."
South, which breezed through the first two rounds Friday with decisive victories against Mandan and Bismarck-St. Mary's, appeared to again be on top of their game offensively early on against the Patriots.
Keim found the back of the net less than five minutes in to put the Bruins ahead 1-0.
"It popped out in front of me," Keim said. "All I had to do was just tap it in."
Bismarck beat Bismarck St. Mary's 1-0 for third place.
