Yankton edged out a narrow 1-0 victory over O’Gorman on Saturday night at Howard Wood Field in Sioux Falls to win their first ever sanctioned boys state soccer championship.
The Bucks entered the postseason as one of the better overall teams, No. 3, and they took down Brookings, Rapid City Central, and Rapid City Stevens on their way to the state title match.
“Every game here in the playoffs they’ve gotten better and better, and tonight was one of those things where we have a bunch of seniors that said “here’s what we have to do, we’re going to go out and do it.” Some of those kids, that’s the hardest they’ve ever played,” stated Yankton head boys soccer coach Dave Dannenbring.
At the start of the season, it was Yankton’s goal to win a boys soccer title. The girls won their first title in school history two years ago, but now it was the boys time to do the same.
“They had set three goals this year that they were going to be conference champions, go into the playoffs as a top three team in the state, and then win the state title, and they did all three, so that’s a fun season,” Dannenbring exclaimed.
It’s one thing to have goals, and it’s another to achieve them. After all, most programs aspire to win a state championship each year. But for Yankton it’s a dream come true, and a goal completed.
“It’s a lot of fun. I’ve got to thank God for giving us this opportunity, and to work with [young men], it’s a great mission field for me as a coach,” said Dannenbring. “These guys have really come a long way this year. Being able to play as a team, to work hard, all the fundamental things that I thought they were lacking at the beginning of the year.”
Along with this being the Bucks first soccer championship in boys program history, since the sport was sanctioned by the South Dakota High School Activities Association, it was also their first time ever playing in the SDHSAA state title match. O’Gorman entered Saturday night’s match as the defending ‘AA’ boys’ champs.
