High school boys soccer: East snaps 20-year title drought with 4A championship win over top-seed Murray

East High’s soccer crest is going to need a refresh this summer, and the program couldn’t be happier.

Its current crest features three stars, all paying tribute to legendary coach Mike Kernodle who passed away in 2007. He won two titles with East’s girls soccer team in 1999 and 2004, and then one with the boys team in 2006.

It’s time for a fourth star now though.

East avenged a pair of one-goal regular season losses to Murray with a tense 2-1 victory in Friday’s 4A state champions at Zions Bank Stadium in Herriman, clinching the school’s first soccer title in two decades.

Former East coach Rudy Schenk — who replaced coach Kernodle during the 2007 spring season when Kernodle passed away after a long battle with liver disease — addressed the team prior to the game, current coach Javier Viana said.

“Coach Rudy, who coached with Coach K, and he comes to all our games and he really, really wants us to do well, today he told us Coach K is with us,” said Viana, who replaced Schenk in 2023.

“It’s been 20 years, it’s time to get another one, and it just happened. I don’t know, it just seems so surreal right now.”

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Murray scored first in Friday’s final, but East equalized through Alejandro Preciado-Jaramillo by halftime, and then Teo Humasti headed in what proved to be the game winner just four minutes into the second half.

East’s defense made the one goal lead hold up in what Humasti described as a crazy stressful second half.

“It’s the most nervous 30 minutes of my life. Especially the last 10, I was shaking,” said Humasti. “It feels quite surreal. It feels amazing. I really wanted to win one for my high school. We got it.”

East was a contender in 5A in each of the previous two years but bowed out of the playoffs a bit earlier than expected. With much of that core back, Humasti said experience paid dividends throughout this playoff run.

Murray thought it had equalized in the final two minutes when a player went up and challenged the keeper on a ball near the goalmouth, but the ref called a foul which negated what would’ve been an equalizer.

East, despite losing to undefeated Murray in the two previous meetings this season, in many ways it felt like it was the better team and was confident that it could possess the ball and play its preferred style.

Viana also knew that Murray had to play the entire second half in its semifinal win over Desert Hills with 10 men after getting a red card.

“We just build from the six and we take in the pressure to create time and space for us, and then on a pitch that’s 75 yards wide, I just felt like coming into the semis that was going to play into our style of play and our philosophy, which is ball retention, moving the ball side to side, and the guys were so tidy on the ball, and I think it wears teams down,” said Viana.

Jett Rimando, who came off the bench and played a key role in possessing the ball in the midfield, said the pregame nerves faded pretty quickly after he checked into the game in the first half.

“Going into it was, it was fun. I knew that student sections were there and all that, so it was fun to go in and just compete and I knew we could get the job done, so it’s good to get it done,” said Rimando.

Murray struck first just 13 minutes into the game as Axel Lopez’s dangerous free kick forced a rebound that Colton Demann smashed home for the 1-0 lead, but in the 25^th minute, East leveled the score at 1-1 on an Alejandro Preciado-Jaramillo free kick from about 35 yards out.

He whipped his free kick into a dangerous area but oddly nobody touched the ball as it skipped once of the turf and into the back of the net.

Just four minutes into the second half, Preciado-Jaramillo whipped a corner kick into a dangerous area and Humasti elevated above six yards out to bury the winner.

In East’s semifinal win over Crimson Cliffs earlier this week, it played most of its corner kicks on the ground with a big size disadvantage in the air. Against Murray though, it was more confident to play balls into the air.

Viana said that sticking to the game plan paid off in the semis for East, and then again in the championship.

“I feel good about how our boys followed the game plan,” Viana said. “We had particular game plan against Crimson Cliffs, they followed that, and then today they didn’t deviate from our plan, which is to be high and wide, pin that line, that three-at-the-back line and try to create problems for them, and they had to adjust in the second half, which is a testament to the work that we were doing.”