By: Matt Scher, [email protected]
Humboldt, IA – Humboldt boys’ soccer edged Greene County in a thrilling 2-1 victory over the Rams to advance to the Substate Finals.
After a delay to start the match for 30 minutes due to a miscommunication between the IHSAA and the officiating crew on the official start time, the Cats and Rams were scoreless through the first 40 minutes of play, with goalkeeper Karson Rubel making three crucial saves, including on a penalty kick by the state’s second leading scorer Gesser Gutierres, to keep the match scoreless.
In the second half, a Carter Westre corner kick cross found Gaige Allen who beat the keeper Gabe Ebersole for the first goal of the match with 38 minutes remaining. Cristhian Ramirez would add a second Wildcat goal, his 26th of the season, with 28 minutes remaining to give Humboldt the 2-0 lead.
Gutierres would tally his 49th goal of the season with 10 minutes to go to put the match at a one goal deficit for Greene County, and Rubel again would make another crucial save down the stretch to preserve the one goal victory.
Humboldt improves to 13-1 and will face the Perry Bluejays in Perry on Wednesday night in the 2A-Substate 7 Final. The matchup is a rematch of the Substate Finals in 2022, when Humboldt defeated Perry to advance to their first State Tournament in program history.