District tournament update: Century, American Falls punch state ticket; Highland play-in bound

EASTERN IDAHO — The youngsters showed out Tuesday night in Highland, pushing the Rams to a second-place finish in the 6A District 4-5-6 tournament and a spot in the state play-in round.

Sophomore goalie Chase Hall turned away continuous first-half challenges from Canyon Ridge, overcoming an injury scare to finish a clean sheet. Fellow sophomore Wyatt Ryerson made the shutout stand up with a goal on a beautiful header off a perfect crossing pass from junior Dalton Poulson in the 66th minute.

With a 1-0 win, Highland earned the right to play in Saturday’s 6A play-in game.

The Century Diamondbacks and American Falls Beavers joined Highland in victory Tuesday, claiming their own state bids.

4A

American Falls (12-9, 7-1), the 4A District 5 tournament’s two-seed, went on the road Tuesday to beat No. 1 Preston (13-6-1, 7-1), 3-2.

The Beavers finished the district tournament with a 4-1 record, avenging a second-round loss to Preston with back-to-back victories over the tournament’s top seed.

Currently ranked 13th among 4A squads, according to MaxPreps, American Falls will likely receive a bottom seed at the state tournament.

The three-day Soccer State Championships will begin on Oct. 22. All boys’ 4A games will be played at Burley High School.

5A

The No. 2 Diamondbacks (9-5-5, 7-3-4) snagged the 5A District 5-6 tournament’s second seed by beating No. 4 Skyline (6-10-4, 4-7-3) 2-1 at Century High School.

Century joins the district champion No. 1-seeded Idaho Falls Tigers (18-1, 13-1) in the 5A state tournament field.

Idaho Falls enters the tournament as the fifth-ranked 5A team in the state, per MaxPreps, while Century owns the No. 11 ranking.

All 5A boys’ games will be played at the Field of Dreams facility in Sandpoint.

6A

In the process of making one of what was several impressive saves during the first half of the 6A District 4-5-6 second-place game, Highland’s Hall went high in the air for a one-handed punch. After crashing back to the ground, landing on his upper back, Hall stayed down for several minutes.

The keeper was removed from the game, but quickly returned to the net where he made several more saves en route to the Rams’ seventh clean sheet of the season. Six of those seven shutouts have come over Highland’s last eight games.

It wasn’t until late in the second half that the Rams finally put a ball in the back of the net, and it came on a gem of a connection.

Poulson, who had been Highland’s top attacker most of the night, sent a perfect cross from far on the right wing. Poulson’s pass went all the way to the left side of the Canyon Ridge 10-yard box, where Ryerson was there with a perfect header to send the game’s only goal past the Riverhawk goalie.

With their 1-0 victory over No. 2 Canyon Ridge (8-8-2, 5-2-1), No. 1 Highland (10-7-2, 6-2) finished the district tournament in second place.

The Rams will play in Saturday’s 6A state play-in round. They will host Owyhee (9-5-4). Highland did not face the Storm during the regular season.

Highland joins No. 3 Thunder Ridge (13-5-1, 4-3-1) in the state field.

The Rams are currently ranked No. 13 by MaxPreps.

All 6A boys’ state tournament games will be played at Hillcrest High School.