High school boys soccer: Rowland Hall beats American Heritage in marathon PK shootout to capture 2A state championship

Someone other than Nick Rimando might have a legitimate claim to the “Wall of the Wasatch” nickname after the performance Rowland Hall’s Brock Paradise turned in Saturday afternoon at America First Field.

On five different occasions, an American Heritage player stepped to the penalty spot with a chance to clinch the 2A state championship in the marathon penalty shootout, and incredibly Paradise save all five of them.

His sixth save, which came in the 16th round of the shootout, ended up clinching the state championship for Rowland Hall, which prevailed in the shootout 9-8 after 100 minutes of scoreless soccer. The 16 rounds is believed to be a state championship record.

The senior had no problem divulging his secret to penalty kick success after the match.

“Usually they look to the side and try and shoot the other way, so whatever way they look you dive the other way and you hope for the best. That’s usually how it goes, and it seems to work well,” said Paradise.

American Heritage keeper Weston Larson came up with three big saves of his own in a shootout that epitomized what a roller coaster of emotions they can be.

The final combined tally of the shootout: 32 shots, 17 goals, nine saves, three crossbars, one post and two Harry Kanes over the bar.

“It was an emotional roller coaster,” said Rowland Hall coach Joe Murray.

The shootout win was the third of the season for Rowland Hall. It didn’t miss a penalty in either of the previous two shootouts.

After Rowland Hall missed three of its first five shots, including Zac Bahna with the fifth kick, American Heritage’s No. 5 shooter stepped up with a chance to win it. Paradise dove right and saved it.

After his teammates missed in the eighth, ninth, 10th and 13th rounds, Paradise again read the body language of the American Heritage penalty takers and dove to make the save.

“The team carried me the whole season so it feels good to give back to them for a change,” said Paradise.

Brandt Barker and Tripp Rollins each made their kicks in the 14th and 15th rounds, with American Heritage’s Gabe Harmon and Will Sanders answering as well.

That the stage for the 16th round, in a wild redemption story for Bahna.

He shanked his fifth-round shot over the crossbar, but incredibly he got another opportunity 11 rounds later and buried his penalty with conviction for the 9-8 lead.

From there, Paradise did the rest with his stunning sixth save.

“It’s mostly when you get to this stage of the season it’s about heart and desire and hard work, and the boys showed tons of that today,” said Murray.

Rowland Hall had a little bit better of the chances in regulation, but in overtime American Heritage was unlucky not to score as it hit both the crossbar and post.

For the Winged Lions, they went into the playoffs with modest expectations as the No. 6 seed after losing their final regular season game to St. Joseph.

Despite losing to St. Joseph twice during the regular season Rowland Hall beat the Jayhawks in the semifinals. Things played out the same way against American Heritage in the final, a team the Winged Lions lost to twice.

Rowland Hall finished the season with a 10-6 record en route to its fourth state championship in school history. Its first win of the season was a shootout against Judge in which Paradise made two saves. It was a storybook ending they his PK saves several months later clinched the state championship.

“This season was one of those seasons where it wasn’t immediately obvious what our best formation, best 11 was,” Murray said. “There was a lot of work with it this season in terms of tinkering and trying to get things right. The passion of the guys is what I’ll remember most.”