Dennis King is one of the leading scorers in the state. So it came as no surprise that he would provide the goal–the only goal of the game–in United Township of East Moline’s 1-0 quarterfinal victory over Lyons in the Class AA boys soccer quarterfinals.
King’s 39th goal of the season came in the 50th minute and sent the Panthers (22-0-1) into the semifinals for the second consecutive year. United Township will face New Trier (24-1).
Lyons’ best scoring chance came in the 45th minute. Rishi Shah had the ball 2 feet from the Panthers’ goal, but United Township goalkeeper Greg Bailey pounced on it and held on to preserve the shutout.
Conant 3, Amundsen 2: The Public League champ gave Conant all it could handle in the final Class AA quarterfinal. Ron Chiero broke a 2-2 tie with his goal 16 minutes into the second half.
“We didn’t give them as much respect as we should have,” Chiero said.
Conant (16-9-3) went on top 1-0 on Mark Behrens’ goal with 37:11 left in the first half. Fifty-seven seconds later, Amundsen’s Juan Aguilar answered. The Cougars went up again on Kyle Hierstedt’s score in the second half–and that was answered by Amundsen’s leading scorer Arnes Cehaic’s 23rd goal. Amundsen finished 15-10-2.
Conant faces Lincoln-Way in Saturday’s second semifinal.
