This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2016, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.

Draper • Maple Mountain avenged its lone loss of the 2016 season with a 1-0 victory over Orem in Thursday's 4A state title game to give the Golden Eagles their first state soccer championship in school history.

Like he had all season long, junior forward Dawson Beutler somehow found a way to get the ball into the net, and his goal in the 15th minute proved to be the game-winner for the 19-1 Golden Eagles.

"[The ball] was just kind of bouncing around in there. It bounced off [the keeper], it bounced off me and it just kind of trickled into the goal," said Beutler of his team-leading 21st goal of the season. "It was just a blur."

Standout goalkeeper Spencer Young made sure the one goal was enough. With the clean sheet against Orem, the senior finished the season with a state-leading 14 shutouts.

"I wasn't necessarily in it for the record or anything like that," Young said. "I just wanted to allow the least amount of goals as possible. I couldn't have done it without my defense. It was definitely satisfying to end the season like that."

After a quiet first half, the Tigers came out of the halftime break with renewed purpose as they continually pressured Maple Mountain deep in its own end. Young was called upon multiple times early in the second half, but the organization of his backline combined with his length in goal proved to be too difficult of a code to crack for the Tigers.

"Orem did very well to bring the pressure, and they didn't let up," Young said. "My defense was still solid, and we just played our game. Granted it was kind of a scrappy win, but it was good overall. I'm glad to say that my defense did very well against the energy that Orem brought."

Thursday's state championship was the culmination of nearly a decade of work and practice for most of the Maple Mountain players. Senior captain Hunter Flinders said that winning a championship with this team was the perfect ending to a long career with several of his teammates.

"I've been with these boys since I was 10 years old," Flinders said. "A lot of these boys are the OG crew and getting the state title just shows all the work we've put in over the years."

As a departing senior, Flinders said that the message he would leave for the underclassmen would be about continuing the legacy of hard work, not necessarily the legacy of winning championships.

"The expectation isn't to come back and win state — that would be nice if they did do it — but they have to work hard and put in the work on the training field required."

As for head coach Mike Klauck, who led the Golden Eagles to their first championship appearance and victory, he's more proud of his players as young men than champions.

"They put in the work on Saturdays all season long and my hat's off to them," Klauk said. "These guys are just a solid group of players, they're all around great guys." —

Storylines

R Maple Mountain's Dawson Beutler scores the game's only goal in the 15th minute. • Maple Mountain goalkeeper Spencer Young notches his state-leading 14th shutout. • The championship is the first in program history for the Golden Eagles.