Ethan Yasat helps Yankton High School soccer win state title
YANKTON, S.D. (BVM) — With 10 seniors on the Yankton High School boys soccer team, the Bucks could not have asked for a better send off for their veteran players.
With just six minutes left in the SDHSAA Class AA state championship, Yankton senior forward Braylen Bietz was able to get the ball into the back of the net to give the Bucks a 1-0 lead over O’Gorman. It was a lead that they would not give up, as they won their third state championship and first since 2014.
Yankton's game winning goal almost didn’t go in — multiple times.
Braylen Bietz finally found the back of the net and the Bucks held on to win their first boys state soccer title. #SDSoccer21 pic.twitter.com/VAXK3o8xIV
— SDPB Sports (@SDPBSports) October 17, 2021
“It’s what we’ve been hoping for all four years of playing,” Bucks center attacking midfielder Ethan Yasat said.
Yasat was the lone Buck to earn first team all-state honors, while seniors Jacob Kirchner and Zachary Loest both received second team all-state honors. Yasat’s 10 goals were tied for the team best and his five assists were also up there with the best on the team.
Moving from an outside winger to attacking center midfielder this year set Yasat up for a season in which he would have success in scoring as well as helping his teammates score. But scoring has never been a problem for Yasat.
“I was the one scoring the goals as a little guy,” Yasat said.
Introduced to the sport by his older brothers and father, Yasat was always outside working on his game and having fun playing the sport.
“I just always loved the sport when I was little,” Yasat said.
It was a way to have fun with his friends and those same friends that he played with back then would be the ones playing with him in high school.
“The seniors that we had on the team this year, we’ve been playing with each other since we were three or four,” Yasat said. “We’ve always been on the same team.”
That history of playing together came up big for the Bucks this year as their team chemistry was strong from the very beginning. In 2020, Yankton lost many close games in which the team felt it should have won, including a tough one during the regular season to eventual state champions O’Gorman.
This season, the team showed growth by making sure it finished every game and the strong team chemistry played a huge role in that. In their first game of the season against Sioux Falls Lincoln, the Bucks overcame a 1-0 deficit to tie Lincoln 1-1.
“We knew this year we had to fight it out until the end, until the last minute of every game,” Yasat said.
That mentality was the difference from last season and it was because of their shortcomings last year and the realization that they could win a state title that they pushed each other to do better this year.
“We fought a little harder this year because we knew we could do it,” Yasat said.
That fight led the Bucks to a 15-1-1 season and a No. 3 seed in the state tournament, but even with their impressive record, it wasn’t smooth sailing for Yankton during the state tournament. It was actually in the state tournament that they fought the hardest and came up with their biggest plays.
In the state quarterfinals, they had to go into penalty kicks against Rapid City Central to decide who would make it to the state semifinals and face Rapid City Stevens.
“That was probably my favorite moment of the year,” Yasat said about the final penalty kick that gave Yankton the win over Central.
Then in their upset win over Rapid City Stevens, the Bucks had to score late after giving up a two-goal lead and of course in the state final, Yankton had to find a way to put the ball in the back of the net after coming up short throughout the game.
‘We knew we could do it,” Yasat said.
And it was that belief in each other and their abilities that allowed the Bucks to keep creating magical moments when they needed them. They may never play together again on the same team, but the 10 seniors on Yankton left everything on the field and are leaving as state champions.
