This one was worth the wait.

The Norwalk boys soccer team advanced to the Class 3A state championship game on Thursday night, knocking off top-seeded Des Moines Hoover 1-0 in a semifinal thriller at Cownie Soccer Park in Des Moines. The game was heard live on 94.3 KNIA as well as kniakrls.com.

Following a weather delay, the match started three-and-a-half hours later than scheduled and featured a dense on-field fog for part of the second half. At the height of that fog, Warrior senior Jack Brown delivered the game-winning score with just 7:53 remaining. With a Hoover defender on his hip, Brown patiently managed to gain control of the ball and punched a shot past the keeper for his 25th goal of the season.

Eight tense minutes later, Norwalk celebrated their seventh defensive shutout of the season, their seventh straight win overall and a trip to Saturday’s 3A title game. The fifth-seeded Warriors, now 13-7, will face sixth-seeded Iowa City Liberty (11-8) at 4:00 p.m.

Norwalk coach Dustin Kralik praised his team for handling every bit of adversity that came their way – from waiting out the rain to overcoming the field conditions and an outstanding opponent.

“Absolutely worth the wait,” Kralik said. “That game was worth the price of admission. Both teams just left everything on the field. It was an absolute battle.”

Kralik tells KNIA-KRLS Sports that Brown was a little down on himself after missing a penalty kick in Tuesday’s quarterfinal win over Humboldt. He was not surprised to see the savvy senior deliver in the clutch on Thursday.

“There was no way he wasn’t going to come back and make another play tonight,” Kralik said. “Just his experience and his ability to play physical through his size and hold people off, then the composure to finish was what you want from a senior leader.”

Norwalk senior goalie Jacob Rueber was credited with five saves on the night, but made many other plays that didn’t count in the scorebook. The Warriors’ back-line defenders “threw their bodies in front of everything” for 80 minutes, Kralik adds, to help shut out a highly-skilled opponent that was seemingly always on the attack. The Huskies finished their season with an overall record of 17-2.

Norwalk-Newton Baseball on KNIA3

The Norwalk baseball team’s game at Winterset was rained out on Thursday – the Warriors’ second postponement of the week. They will host Newton on Friday night, with pregame coverage on kniakrls.com (KNIA3) beginning at approximately 7:15.