Blaine knocks off No. 1 seed

Mitch Boege broke a promise to his Blaine soccer teammates.

Boege predicted a four-goal night from himself in Thursday's Class 2A state tournament quarterfinal game against undefeated and No. 1 seed Champlin Park.

He settled for scoring two second-half goals in a 2-1 upset at Park of Cottage Grove High School.

With the victory, Blaine avenged a 5-3 loss to the Rebels in the regular-season finale and advanced to the semifinals next week at the Metrodome.

Blaine led 2-0 at halftime in the teams' first meeting but was stunned by a five-goal second half by the Rebels.

"We thought we had it last time we played them, but they caught us off guard and came back," Boege said. "So we knew we had to come in fully prepared and play 100 percent the whole game."

Champlin Park (16-1-1) scored first as Esteban Arias intercepted a weak goal kick and booted the ball in from about 25 yards out.

Blaine (15-3-1) appeared to knot the score before halftime, but referees ruled the attacking player offsides.

There was no disputing Boege's second-half goals, both coming off free kicks. The first goal, assisted by Ian Durbin, finished a sequence of deft passing.

The second goal, scored about seven minutes later, started with a booming free kick Champlin Park goalkeeper Alec Leabo dived right to knock away. But the ball hit the post and bounced once off the ground toward Boege, who struck it out of the air with his left foot.

"I score half my goals with my left, but I'm not left-footed at all so I don't know how it happens," Boege said.

Champlin Park coach Gavin Pugh said: "Credit to them, they picked up scraps off the free kicks. It's difficult to lose in that fashion. Nine times out of 10 they are not going to get those free kicks."

After not scoring in the first game against Champlin Park, Boege was forgiven for coming up short of his promise.

"I said I was going to get four," Boege said. "But as I told the guys after, two did the job so that's all I needed."

Bloomington Jefferson 1, Minneapolis South 0 (shootout): The No. 5 seed Jaguars outlasted the No. 4 seed Tigers on penalty kicks.

Jaguars' sophomore Ryan Fitch, the 15th player to shoot, buried his attempt. The goal left South in need of an equalizer by senior Jack Kotnik to prolong the shootout. But his attempt hit the crossbar.

South forward Elliot Cassutt, the Class 2A Mr. Soccer winner, did not start. He entered the game about 10 minutes into the first half but sat down on the field a few minutes later with an apparent injury and left the game.