BOYS SOCCER: Weary Karnehed nets winner, lifts Panthers to state title

Erik Karnehed needed a rest, and the junior midfielder for the Palo Verde boys soccer team did what he could to get the attention of the Panthers’ bench.

He hollered at first-year coach Garry Shackley repeatedly and made the universal signal for a substitution by rolling his hands in a circular motion.

Luckily for the Panthers, Shackley ignored the plea.

Karnehed poked home the go-ahead goal in the 56th minute, lifting Palo Verde to a 2-1 victory over Valley in the Division I state final Saturday at Heritage Park.

“My legs were tired, and I needed a break for five minutes,” Karnehed said. “When we got the throw-in, I said, ‘Now I’m going to score the final goal.’ “

The Panthers (17-5-2) won five straight games in the postseason after finishing the regular season on a 1-3-1 run and earned the program’s first state title. Palo Verde lost 2-0 to Eldorado in last season’s final.

“You heard the call from the sideline, from the other players and the managers saying, ‘Unfinished business from last year,’ ” said Shackley, who credited former Palo Verde coach Kevin Hagood. “We desperately wanted it, and we put in one of our best performances of the season in order to win it against what is a very good team.”

Austin Manthey finished with a goal and an assist for the Panthers, who rallied after falling behind 1-0 in the 19th minute.

Karnehed, a foreign exchange student from Sweden, began signaling the Panthers’ bench for a sub after 15 minutes of play in the second half. But when Palo Verde earned a throw-in along the left sideline, he headed into the penalty area.

Manthey launched a long throw into the box and it fell to Karnehed, who knocked it in from close range for his second goal of the season.

“Good thing I didn’t take him off,” Shackley said. “I’m pleased for Erik. He’s a great kid, and I’m pleased he’s got the winning goal. He’s brought a lot to the team.”

Valley (16-4), which was seeking its first state title since 1990, took the lead through John Cerda, who intercepted a clearing attempt and drove a shot from the top of the 18-yard box into the lower-left corner of the goal.

But the Vikings rarely threatened after that, and leading scorers Eric Sanchez and Marco Gonzales were neutralized by Palo Verde’s defense. Gonzales’ best chance came in the first half when he found room on a counterattack but drove a shot well wide of the goal.

“We didn’t have as many chances as we usually have. They were very effective,” Valley coach Angel Pantaleon said. “They did pretty good in possession, and we tried to counter. We had a few chances, but we couldn’t put them away.”

Manthey tied the game in the 26th minute as he made a late run into the box and headed in a perfect cross from Dylan Obata.

“What makes me proud most of all is … we kept our discipline, we kept our belief in ourselves and got the goal back,” Shackley said. “And we looked all the stronger even after we did that.”

DIVISION I-A

For many soccer fans, it’s the worst possible way to decide a match, let alone a state title.

But after Chaparral and Truckee fought through 110 minutes, including two overtime periods, and were tied 3-3, the teams decided the Division I-A state title by a penalty-kick shootout.

Truckee, which rallied from a 3-0 first-half deficit to tie the match, made all five of its penalty kicks to top the Cowboys 5-3 on Saturday in the shootout at Heritage Park.

“Penalty kicks is a tough way to decide it,” third-year Chaparral coach Eric Rolwing said. “If Truckee would’ve lost, I would feel just as horrible for them for climbing back into it. Unfortunately, I think both of our legs were dead, everybody was dead, cramps were everywhere. So I think it was the best way to decide it, because I don’t know if we could’ve kept going.”

The Wolverines (21-4-3) won the coin toss and elected to kick first in the shootout.

Each team made its first kick, and Truckee took a 2-1 lead before Wolverines goalkeeper Gabriel Serna stopped Jose Morales on Chaparral’s second shot. Truckee made its next three shots to capture the victory and state title.

“We had a lot of experience, guys who have been in this situation before,” Rolwing said. “We just had some unlucky spots. It’s the worst saying in the world, but it wasn’t meant to be.”

The Cowboys (20-7-2), in their first state title match since 2001, stormed to a 3-0 lead midway through the first half on two goals from Morales and one from Omar Carranza.

Morales headed in a ball from Aldo Skewes to give the Cowboys a 1-0 lead three minutes into the match.

In the 15th minute, Lester Izquierdo launched a throw-in into a packed box before Carranza controlled the ball and sent it to the back of the net for a 2-0 lead.

Morales extended the lead to 3-0 minutes later on a shot that caromed of the crossbar and found its way in.

“Morales is a stud,” Rolwing said. “For anybody to think him missing a penalty kick has anything to do with him as a player, he was an absolute stud (all year).”

Truckee got some much-needed help with an own-goal four minutes before halftime to make the score 3-1. The Wolverines wasted no time trimming away in the second half, as Leo Villa scored less than a minute in. Manuel Sarabia hit the equalizer with a header in the 61st minute.