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Sandy • With a potential state championship riding on his shoulders, Layton junior midfielder Leo Urrutia staggered to the penalty spot with a chance to win the Lancers' first boys' state soccer title in 14 years.

Before Urrutia got there, senior goalkeeper Sam Hunter had a message for him.

"He knew I was nervous when he saw me walking there," Urrutia said. "I was nervous. I think I couldn't breathe, but he knew that I had the confidence to put it in the back of the net, and it happened."

Urrutia's final shot of the season sealed a 5-3 penalty shootout victory for Layton after a scoreless draw with Herriman to claim the Class 5A boys' soccer state title at Rio Tinto Stadium.

Before Urrutia could take the game-winning penalty, someone had to stop Herriman after it scored on its first three tries. That someone was Hunter, who stonewalled Herriman's Jaxson Ruff after scoring on his team's third penalty kick and finishing off his 11th shutout of the season at the end of regulation.

"I don't know," Hunter responded when asked how he stopped Ruff's attempt. "I was going to my right every time, and I was getting mad at myself. I just thought 'I'm just going to read this one,' like I'm going to do something different. So I just got to my left and read it. As soon as I blocked that and I saw Leo walking up, I knew for sure we were finishing that game right there."

Hunter said Urrutia had been practicing his penalty kicks all week and he never was able to stop one. Layton coach Rick Talamentez watched the two in practice and knew he had gotten his dream matchup.

"It was going to get buried, that's all I knew," Talamentez said. "He's been practicing those all week. Same shot, same corner. [He had] confidence in him."

The Layton coach could not have been as confident after his team struggled to sustain any cohesion throughout the second half. But his defense kept the Lancers in the game until the offense began to pick up in the overtime periods.

"Herriman is a dangerous team with threats on the outside," Talamentez said. "We told [our players] at halftime to keep our composure, stay strong and keep our shape. Going into that overtime, let's dictate the way we want to play and let's just attack and keep attacking. They're just as tired as us, and let's just keep the ball in their half."

Layton thought it had scored the winner in the second overtime period when Harrison Walker put in a rebounded off Herriman goalkeeper JD Myers, but the goal was disallowed when the linesman raised his flag, indicating Walker was offside.

While winning in overtime would have been nice, Urrutia said the team knew it was destined for a win on PKs.

"It was hard," Urrutia said about missing opportunities in overtime. "But like I said, we've been practicing this all season. We had no problems. We have one of the best keepers in the world, our defensive line is always better and our PK shooters are the best. That's all there is."