SANDY — Juan Diego just needed to hold on for two minutes, 30 seconds to see penalty kicks decide a potential second consecutive Class 3A boys soccer title.

It proved to be 2:23 too long.

Ridgeline’s Alex Cruz notched the game-winning goal in the second extra-time period, and first-year Ridgeline stunned the defending champion Soaring Eagle 2-1 in the Class 3A state championship Saturday at Rio Tinto Stadium.

“As a school, we focus a lot on academics as well as sports, and we’re proud of all of our sports,” Cruz said of Ridgeline, which won its second boys team title in the first-year school’s history. “We get out and support. But this is one for the books: we’re very excited to have this title.”

Ridgeline coach J.C. Vazquez stammered for a moment when asked cheekily if Cruz’s goal was the biggest in school history. He thought for a second, racing back through each goal of the first-year program’s season.

Then he laughed.

“Yes, I can say yes,” he said with a smile. “Even though we’ve had so many big ones that brought us to this one.

“But absolutely, that goal will be remembered for a long time.”

After a scoreless first half, Juan Diego’s Ruben Castillo broke through just four minutes after the break. The senior forward provided a moment of brilliance for Soaring Eagle (15-4), taking a pass from Jered Mariani and slotting home the opening goal inside the far post for the 1-0 lead.

Mariani nearly added another in the 48th minute on the counter, but his wide-open shot on frame flew into the hands of the Ridgeline goalkeeper.

Ridgeline tied it up with 17 minutes remaining on a penalty kick. Andy Payne was fouled on the edge of the box, and senior J.C. Vazquez converted from the spot with a low blast into the left post to equalize over the final 15 minutes of regulation.

“After we got the penalty, you could see the momentum change,” said Vazquez, the son of Ridgeline’s coach. “They were more on their heels, and we went into the overtime confident.”

Payne drew contact just outside the box, then again on the inner edge of the 18-yard line, and the official blew the whistle signaling a penalty — much to the chagrin of the Soaring Eagle supporters.

“Juan Diego is an incredible team,” coach Vazquez said. “They are well-coached, and they have fantastic players. We knew it was going to be a battle. But we knew we had to be patient, and we had to counterattack hard. They put a lot of pressure on us, but that was the strategy: to contain and to be ready at the right moment.”

The young Vazquez nearly provided the Riverhawks with the game-winner in regulation, but his effort from distance breezed past the far post with three minutes remaining before sending the match into two 10-point extra periods.

“I told them, ‘I don’t want to go to PKs.’ Well, I didn’t want to go to overtime, to begin with,” his father said. “But I thought we had to put numbers forward. I changed my formation, and I put numbers out there. It paid off.”

After Soaring Eagle poured in three shots in the first 10-minute extra time, Ridgeline came back out in the second with more enthusiasm. Luke Diamond forced a shot from distance with just under three minutes remaining, but Juan Diego goalkeeper Martin Kelly made the save and batted down the ball.

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The Riverhawks (14-2) will take on 3A power Juan Diego at 1:45 p.m. MDT Saturday at Rio Tinto Stadium in the state championship.

But the deflection landed right beneath Cruz, who side-volleyed a shot into the back of the net — the biggest in Ridgeline soccer history.

“It’s the biggest. That one gave us the state title,” said the young Vazquez, a team captain. “And he really deserved it. The whole school really deserved this.”

After basketball star Jaxon Brenchley led the Riverhawks’ boys hoops team to the school’s inaugural state title last winter, Cruz’s last-ditch goal gave Ridgeline the second, and first in a spring sport.

And though the defending champion Soaring Eagle may have been favored by many for a repeat title, coach Vazquez set his once nascent squad on the path to a title from the beginning of the season.

“The first meeting we had as a group, I gave them a picture of Rio Tinto (Stadium),” he said. “I said, ‘I want you to put that picture in the mirror so that every day when you wake up, you see that picture.’ That’s the goal — and it came true today. I’m extremely proud of this group of fine young men that worked so very hard this season.

“They are disciplined, they are hard workers and they taught me more than I was able to teach them.”

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