If anybody can vouch for the fact that St. Mary's goalkeeper Michael Gilchrist deserved the West Region senior athlete of the year award for boys soccer, it's the Century Patriots.

The Saints' all-state goalkeeper once again was Century's nemesis Saturday, making the key stops St. Mary's needed to pull off a 2-1 shootout victory in the West Region tournament championship game.

Both teams advance to next week's state tournament in Fargo.

Gilchrist had posted four straight shutouts, a streak dating back to last year, against the defending state champions. In two previous meetings this year Gilchrist stood on his head as the Patriots outplayed the Saints, but St. Mary's scored a win and a tie.

In contrast, Saturday's meeting was a dead heat.

"Our midfield was fantastic, and our defense was solid the whole game," Gilchrist said. "I didn't have to do much in regulation."

But Gilchrist did have to make a big stop on Peter Pomonis in overtime. Then he turned in a critical save on Century's standout keeper - Michael Frenzel - who was one of the Patriots used as a shooter when the game went to penalty kicks.

"You kind of pick your spot where you want to go," Gilchrist said of the shootout. "But then when you look at the kicker, you have to watch their feet and see if you can get a right dive on it."

St. Mary's grabbed the lead in the 24th minute when Adam Biwer sailed one over Frenzel's head from 40 yards out. It was the first goal of the year for the senior defender.

"In that position, coaches have told me to flight it in, and that's what I did," Biwer said. "It ended up going right over Frenzel's head. I knew it had a chance. The wind definitely played a factor."

The Patriots tied it up in the 33rd minute, cashing in on a corner kick. The cross went into the box, where it began pinballing.

"The ball was bouncing around, and the shot came in," Biwer said. "I was on the far post, and I dove for it and it hit off my head.It bounced off the ground and Century was there for the rebound."

Aaron Nelson finished the play, tying the game.

The Saints nearly tied it in the 47th minute, but Frenzel went high to punch away a shot from Micah Goebel. The ball bounced off the crossbar, but stayed out of the net.

Goebel had another great chance with less than three minutes to play, but couldn't quite finish a great feed from Joe Fladeland.

Because of rapidly impending darkness, the coaches agreed to shorten the two overtime periods from 10 minutes to five, not enough to break the deadlock. Pomonis had the best chance, but was denied by Gilchrist.

Each team scored in the first round of the five-man shootout. But when Gilchrist stopped Frenzel, Fladeland put St. Mary's in command.

Century's Yonas Haddis missed in the third round, while St. Mary's wrapped it up, 4-2, with goals from Travis Huber and Kylan Stecher.

The Saints were ecstatic with the win.

"It's definitely huge," Biwer said. "It puts in the position we want to be. It gives us some momentum. Both teams showed their best, and we ended up coming out on top."

The Patriots lost last year's West Region final in a shootout, but rebounded to win it all.

"We might play them again," Jahnke said. "Hopefully we do, in the final.That would be fun."

First half:1. SM, Adam Biwer (unassisted), 23:09. 2. C, Aaron Nelson (unassisted), 32:26.

Second half:No scoring.

First overtime: No scoring.

Second overtime:No scoring.

Shootout:SM4 (Davis Heidrich, Joe Fladeland, Travis Huber, Kylan Stecher), C 2 (Peter Pomonis, Nick Anderson).

Halftime:SM 1, C 1.

Goalkeeper saves:C - Michael Frenzel 12. SM - Michael Gilchrist 13.

Records:C 12-3-3; SM12-2-4.

Bismarck 3, Mandan 0

With its season on the line, a young Bismarck team came through, breezing past Mandan in a state qualifier.

The Demons got first-half goals from sophomores Bojan Buzakovic and Roman Rasidovic. Senior captain Mark Hovland wrapped up the scoring on a penalty kick with 25 seconds to play.

"This is the first time we said it was a must-win game, and they came out and played very well,"Bismarck coach Tim Green said.

Mandan coach Chad Heck said the Braves had a tough time matching up.

"They made us work defensively, which ended up tiring us out," Heck said. "We're not deep enough to play that type of game."

First half:1. B, Roman Rasidovic (unassisted), 5:29. 2. B, Bojan Buzakovic (unassisted), 33:18.

Second half:3. B, Mark Hovland (penalty kick), 79:35.

Halftime:B 2, M 0.

Goalkeeper saves:M - Jonathan Tischmak 10-8-18. B - Connor Kelley 3-3-6.

Records:M 1-15-2; B 11-7-1.

Jamestown 3, Minot 2

Jamestown hadn't won a game all season, but the Blue Jays won the only one that really mattered.

Erick Paiement scored two goals and assisted on the other as Jamestown stunned Minot in a state qualifier.

After being shifted to forward, Paiement scored nine goals in his last seven games.

"We feel that we are better than we've shown," Paiement said. "Our record doesn't tell how we are. We're a young team, and we've let some games get away from us.

"We never counted ourselves out during the whole tournament or during the whole season."

First half:1. J, Erick Paiement (Ocean), 32:34. 2. J, Ocean (Paiement), 35:39.

Second half:3. M, Raphael Chakanetsa (Alex Wohl), 55:26. 4. J, Paiement (John Hagen), 67:00. 5. M, Zach Pulkinen (penalty kick), 74:12.

Halftime:J 2, M 0.

Goalkeeper saves:J - Austin Hoggarth 5-3-8. M - Kent Leutzen 0-8-8.

Records:J 1-15-2; M 7-12-0.

AWARDS

Senior athlete of the year:Michael Gilchrist, St. Mary's.

Coach of the year: Joel Jahnke, Century.

All-tournament team

St. Mary's - Michael Gilchrist, Joe Fladeland, Micah Goebel. Century - NickAnderson, Peter Pomonis, Michael Frenzel. Bismarck - Roman Rasidovich, Mark Hovland, Bojan Buzakovic. Minot - Alex Wohl, Zach Pulkinen, Luke Charley. Jamestown - Tim Smith, Ocean, Erick Paiement. Mandan - Scott Kruckenberg, Nick Helmers, Bryan Kielpinski.