Teegan Kralik’s rebound goal with 6:02 remaining put Norwalk on top for the third and final time on Tuesday, lifting the Warriors past Humboldt 3-2 in a Class 3A Boys State Soccer Tournament quarterfinal. The game was played at Cownie Soccer Park in Des Moines and was broadcast live on 94.3 KNIA as well as kniakrls.com.

Norwalk held leads of 1-0 and 2-1 in the first half before Humboldt’s Will Orness tied the score in the 47th minute with his second goal of the match on a right-to-left cross. Kralik’s game-winner was set up by Tavin Ferner’s hard shot off the hands of Wildcat goalie Karson Rubel, who minutes earlier had stopped a penalty kick by Warrior senior Jack Brown. Kralik called it an “absolutely incredible” feeling to score the winning goal in a state tournament game.

Norwalk’s sixth consecutive win improves their record to 12-7 and sets up a semifinal match vs. top-seeded Des Moines Hoover on Thursday at 4:00 p.m. The Huskies are 17-1 following Tuesday’s 6-0 win over Cedar Rapids Xavier.

Brown, who scored his team-leading 24th goal against Humboldt, tells KNIA-KRLS Sports that the Warriors are proud to be the last team standing this year in the Little Hawkeye Conference. Brown says the team is determined to add to the program’s tradition of excellence that includes four state championships since 2007.

“It feels really good to be able to get back here and continue the legacy that was kind of set before,” Brown said. “It’s been six years since we’ve been back to the state tournament. We’ve had a lot of great teams make it to state so we just want to continue that and move on to the next round and play a great game against Hoover.”

Norwalk took their initial lead in the 16th minute on freshman Tyden Eng’s first goal of the season – a long shot attempt that may have caught the Wildcats off guard. Orness forced a 1-1 tie in the 25th minute with a header goal off a corner kick, but the Warriors regained the lead just 41 seconds later on a header goal by Brown, assisted by Keilor Rodman.

The halftime score was 2-1 and both sides scored once the rest of the way. Humboldt finishes their season with an overall record of 16-2.

Baseball/Softball Postponed

Norwalk’s baseball game at Ballard and home softball game vs. ADM were both postponed Tuesday night due to thunderstorms. No make-up dates have been announced.