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Washington Evening Journal
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Hillcrest, D-NL win Substate openers
Ravens knock off Mid-Prairie, Bears survive WACO
Southeast Iowa Union offers audio versions of articles using Instaread. Some words may be mispronounced.
DANVILLE — A rainy night in Southeast Iowa played host to the first round of the Class 1A substate soccer tournaments, and a couple of matchups featured Union area teams battling against each other.
Danville-New London and Hillcrest Academy both enjoyed victories over area foes. The Bears took down WACO 3-1 in Danville, and the Ravens knocked out Mid-Prairie, 5-1, in Kalona.
In Danville, Kaiden Kerr’s early goal had the Bears in the lead, and they never relinquished it despite a fierce comeback attempt.
D-NL held a 1-0 lead at halftime and went up 2-0 when Colin Pealer put one in with 25:04 showing on the clock.
WACO’s Keiran Luitjens scored five minutes later to cut the D-NL lead in half, and the Warriors had plenty of chances to tie, including a couple of juicy corner kicks and a penalty kick, all battled away by Bears’ keeper Aiden Konig.
“We got lucky, but the big thing I would say, was the penalty save,” said D-NL head coach Eric Pealer. “After that, we played energized and we played hard to finish it out.”
The Bears sent the final dagger into the net with just over six-and-a-half minutes remaining, as Pealer found some space and launched in his second goal of the game.
“The amount of effort the kids put in is never in question,” said WACO head coach Robert Shaw. “When they cut it to 2-1, I wasn’t surprised.”
Shaw also spoke about the team’s growth. WACO won four games this year for the third time since starting up the soccer program in 2023.
That game took place Substate 1A-5. On the other side of the bracket, Central Lee knocked off Sigourney-Keota 6-2.
The semifinals for 1A-5 are now set, as the Bears will play at West Liberty, while D-NL heads to Mediapolis.
Hillcrest Academy had five different scorers in a 5-1 win over Mid-Prairie. Hillcrest’s Micah Gerber, Angel Satulle Sambrano, Mason Helmuth, Mason Bender, Andrew Kaufman all put the ball in the back of the net to help the Ravens move on in Substate 1A-6.
The Ravens will play at second-seeded Chariton for the semifinals on May 27th. On the other end, top-seeded Van Meter will battle a Grandview Christian team that sneaked past Highland, 2-1, in the opener.
