JORDAN -- The 2011 season might have started off a little slow for the Jayhawks, but it's ending right where they planned to be.
Stellar senior playmaker Dino Soto scored twice, including the 66th minute go-ahead goal, as the St. Joseph High School boy's soccer team rallied to down South Summit 3-2 in the semifinals of the state 2-A boy's soccer tournament at Jordan High School.
"I thought we moved the ball around well today and controlled the run of play," said St. Joseph coach Derek Tate. "Dino was magnificent today. He is a senior and we needed him to play great, and he was unstoppable today."
Region 18 champion St. Joseph, riding a nine-game winning streak, will tangle with defending state 2-A champion Waterford -- Region 14's No. 3 seed -- in today's state title game at 11 a.m. at Sandy's Rio Tinto Stadium.
"We gave up a dumb (penalty kick) in the first minute of the second half to go down 2-1, but we kept our composure," Tate said. "We played a great second half and got two goals to retake the lead."
St. Joseph (10-5-0) took a 1-0 lead late in the first half, but South Summit (13-3-1) responded just 30 seconds later on a set piece to send the game into halftime tied at 1-1.
The Wildcats got a penalty kick in the 41st minute, taking a 2-1 lead, but St. Joseph answered back in the 65th minute on a penalty by Adam Brodstein that leveled the scoreline 2-2.
After the kickoff, the Jayhawks quickly regained control of the ball to set the stage for Soto's decisive goal just over a minute later.
Tate credited numerous players for their critical and headsy play as the Jayhawks knocked off the Region 14 co-champions.
Region 1
* LAYTON 3, ROY 1: At Layton, the Lancers blasted past the Royals in their season finale.
Christian Love, Johnny Rodriguez and Nathan Cutler each scored for Layton, which wrapped up its season at 7-8-1 and finished just one point shy of the Royals for the final state 5-A playoff berth.
Roy, which got a score from Josh Peterson in the 20th minute, will face West in a state 5-A play-in game today at 2 p.m. at West High School, with the winner advancing to face Region 3 champion Copper Hills in Tuesday's first round.
Region 5
* BOX ELDER 4, BONNEVILLE 0: At Washington Terrace, the Region 5 champion Bees wrapped up their regular season with a commanding victory over the Lakers.
Box Elder (11-2-1, 9-1-0 Region 5) will carry an eight-game winning streak into Wednesday's first-round state 4-A game versus Maple Mountain, while Bonneville failed to advance to the postseason for the first time since 1998 and finishes the year at 7-4-2 overall, 4-4-2 in league play.
* MOUNTAIN CREST 4, OGDEN 1: At Hyrum, the Mustangs clinched the final state 4-A tournament berth from Region 5 by breaking open a tight game in the second half.
Javier Allred scored for Ogden.
In the other league game, Logan smashed Sky View 5-0.
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