DES MOINES, IOWA (KCAU) – After back-to-back State runner-up finishes in 2021 and 2022, third time was the charm for 2-seed Western Christian boys soccer. The Wolfpack defeated 1-seed Grundy Center/Gladbrook-Reinbeck 2-0 in the IHSAA Class 1A State Championship for the program’s first ever spring State title.
The program had won a State championship in the fall of 1996, before the State tournament was officially moved to the Spring in 2001.
Just coming up short the two years prior, the Wolfpack didn’t have to look far for motivation. Their opponent of GC/G-R was an unbeaten squad heading in but the Western Christian bunch held their ground from first whistle. A number of scoring chances occurred for both sides throughout the first half, but neither team netted the game’s first goal heading into halftime still tied 0-0.
Then the Wolfpack went on the attack with Miles Baccam. After a few missed chances earlier in the game, the junior captain would light up the board with a one-on-one goal to put Western Christian in front 1-0.
Baccam’s day was not done there. Soon after, the team’s leading scorer would clutch up again with a similar chance and a similar result, awarding Baccam his second score of the game and a 2-0 Western Christian lead.
That proved to be the dagger for GC/G-R as the Wolfpack defense hold tough until the final whistle towards a 2-0 State championship victory. A moment the program had dreamt about, with the feeling even better than expected.
“This is something I’ve dreamed about as a little kid,” junior Miles Baccam said. “You know, up in northwest Iowa, Western is always basketball, volleyball, football… all things like that. That’s always the little kid’s dreams there is to be a big basketball star for Western. But, it was always different for me. I always wanted to be a soccer star and now I finally got it. It doesn’t feel reel that it actually happened.”
Head Coach Sou Baccam was a part of the Fall 1996 Western Christian team that won a State title. Now a head coach of his alma-mater with sons Bailey and Kobi as assistants and Miles Baccam a player, the moment was special one for the Baccam family.
“It is special as a dad to share that moment with those guys,” head coach Sou Baccam said. “It definitely ranks right up there with the best moments of my life.”
Western Christian ends its championship season with a 15-2 overall record.