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Sandy • After beating Juan Diego, 1-0, in last year's Class 3A soccer semifinals and winning the state title, it came as no surprise to Dixie that the Soaring Eagle would provide another challenging semifinal contest Friday at Alta High.

It took Tyler Bennett's golden goal in overtime to give the Flyers a thrilling 2-1 victory and a chance to play for the championship Saturday at 1:30 p.m. at Rio Tinto Stadium.

"Casey [Black] kept it in play," Bennett said. "He headed it up into the middle, and I got lucky. It bounced to me, and I just tapped it in. Juan Diego is a great team. It was a tough game."

Dixie coach Bert Myers said he called a power corner play on the winning sequence.

"Our guy that ran the far post was going to the near post," he said. "I was screaming, so he ran around the far post and chipped it back. Bennett is a strong kid. He played in the state final basketball game. He's a stud."

In a game delayed 35 minutes by lightning and heavy rain, the state's two top-ranked teams took good measure of each other in the early going.

Dixie's Francisco finally broke the tie on a nice shot from the left side about 31 minutes into the half.

But Juan Diego fought back to tie it on a beautiful 35-yard free kick by Brandon Sands.

The Soaring Eagle dominated the first 20 minutes of the second half, but they couldn't get the ball past Dixie goalie Ethan Poulton, who made several brilliant saves.

"This was one that you can dominate and build for a little while, but the game turns at some point," said Juan Diego coach Scott Platz. "We had a little trouble getting out on the front foot after that first 20 minutes of the second half. We were playing a little bit of a boom-ball kind of game and not playing our style. They did that to us."

Myers said the Flyers didn't do a good job taking away Juan Diego's passing lanes in the first half. He credited Colton Chamberlain for playing incredible defense.

"We did a little better job the second half, but, holy cow, Scott has an incredible team," he said. "We haven't seen anything like that against us the year. I knew they were going to be great. They were in a position to beat us. They had a spell when they got a couple of great looks, and our keeper turned a couple of them away."

Myers said his team is thrilled to play at Rio Tinto on Saturday.

"That's a fun place to be," he said. "You get to listen to 30,000 empty seats scream at us."

Pine View 2, Snow Canyon 1 • In the nightcap, Pine View took a 2-0 lead on a first-half goal by Michael Wade and a second half tally with 28 minutes to play and then had to hold on.

The Warriors, playing shorthanded due to red cards, made it close when Kevin Guevara Chillin scored with four minutes to play. But they couldn't quite catch their Washington County rivals.

Pine View beat defending champion Dixie in overtime in the two teams last time, setting up an exciting state title game Saturday at Rio Tinto. -

Dixie 2, Juan Diego 1 (OT)

R Tyler Bennett scores a golden goal for Dixie.

• Brandon Sand hits 35-yard free kick for a Juan Diego goal.

• The all-Washington County title game is set for Saturday at 1:30 at Rio Tinto.