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DRAPER — Dawson Beutler didn’t know what had happened — it was all a blur in the 15th minute of the Class 4A state championship match at Juan Diego High School.
But at the end of the play, he knew one thing.
The ball was in the net.
Beutler scored the only goal of the match 15 minutes in, and goalkeeper Spencer Young marshaled Maple Mountain’s defense to its 15th shutout of the year in a 1-0 win over Orem to clinch the 4A state title Thursday afternoon.
“It’s amazing,” Beutler said. “I’m fighting back tears right now. It’s unexplainable.”
Beutler took a touch inside the 6-yard box and glanced the ball past Orem goalkeeper Josh Parker as the Golden Eagles (19-1) scored their first first-half goal in the 2016 state playoffs.
“I wasn’t planning on making a run,” said Beutler, who finished off a chaotic free kick. “I was going to be the follow-up guy, and I just decided to go and it fell there.
“It was just bouncing around, and trickled into the goal. It was just a blur."
The Tigers (13-4-3) didn’t make it easy, though. Orem got off three final chances in the second half, including Tyler Fowler’s free kick about 30 yards from goal that Young punched over the bar with 22 minutes remaining.
The Tigers got a head on the rebound, but the deflection sailed just wide of the goal to preserve Young’s shutout.
“They were a four-seed, but you look at their tough region: (Orem) gave a hard time to Provo, Alta, Mountain View — some of the top teams in the state,” Maple Mountain coach Jeff Lewis said. “We respect Orem tremendously, but we didn’t want to get too psyched up for it.”
The Eagles benefitted from a physical contest, earning three yellow cards and giving away a half-dozen free-kick opportunities to Orem in the Tigers’ attacking half. But even when the Eagles’ defense bent, it didn’t break.
“I was very on edge the whole game,” Young said. “I had to be on my toes and make sure the defense stayed focused mentally, and that I was ready for anything they would throw.”
The few times Orem broke through, the Eagles’ rotating center back tandem of Lloyd, Samuel Krommenhoek and Luke Norman was there.
“Spencer was huge today; this year he’s had 14 shutouts (before Thursday), and a lot of those shutouts didn’t require a lot of work,” Lewis said of Young, who made four saves on the day. “We knew as we went into the finals, he would get a lot of pressure.
“Today he dealt with the pressure huge: he dealt with served-in balls, he cleaned up a lot of shots very nicely, and he showed why he’s the leader in shutouts in the state.”
The win avenged Maple Mountain’s only loss of the regular season, a 1-0 defeat at Orem that came courtesy of Brett Gowans’ first-half goal. Since then, the Golden Eagles have been on a tear, finishing the regular season with five shutouts in their final six Region 8 games — the only one being a 10-2 home win over Payson.
Maple Mountain shut out all four of its playoff opponents, outscoring its four opponents 8-0.
“It was definitely the organization,” Young said. “I love my center backs; they’re awesome and are very good at organizing themselves. Props to them for everything they do; I couldn’t have done it without them.”
