Iowa City Regina celebrates their 1-0 win over Solon for the 1A state championship at the state tournament Saturday, June 4, 2011, at Cownie Soccer Park in Des Moines. (Liz Martin/SourceMedia Group News)

Iowa City Regina's Chris Nott (10, center) celebrates with Johnny Rummelhart (2, left) and Zach Pechous (3) after scoring the winning goal for the Regals in the 1A championship game against Solon at the state tournament Saturday, June 4, 2011, at Cownie Soccer Park in Des Moines. (Liz Martin/SourceMedia Group News)

DES MOINES – The golden goal.

All right, not technically. Chris Nott’s winner Saturday afternoon for Iowa City Regina came with 1:19 left in regulation.

In soccer parlance, a golden goal is one scored in sudden-death overtime. So consider this one about nine-tenths gold.

“Like a Christmas gift,” a visibly shaking Nott said after Regina won its third consecutive Class 1A state championship, 1-0, over Solon, at Cownie Park.

“A great way to end it,” said Regina Coach Rick Larew.

A last-gasp run down the right sideline by an Energizer bunny known as Johnny Rummelhart led to Nott’s dramatic goal. The captain of the 1A all-tournament team was cut off on a good defensive play by Solon’s Nick Day, but Day’s attempted clear ended up on the foot of Regina’s Zach Pechous about 10 yards out to the right of the net.

Instead of blasting a shot, Pechous deftly passed left to a wide-open Nott, who slipped a shot past helpless Solon goalkeeper Derrick Loveless. Game, set, three-peat.

“Zach made a great pass,” said Nott. “He has great awareness of the field, and he saw me. I was thinking in my head ‘Go, Zach, go,’ but the ball came to me. The goalie came up and tried to stop him. I just angled one and it went in.”

“We did a great job limiting (Rummelhart’s) touches today,” said a dejected Day. “He kind of had a breakaway there. I tried to clear it, but it didn’t work. Unlucky goal for us.”

Nothing separated these nearby rivals, as they played tight defensively against each other’s star offensive players: Rummelhart and Marshall Koehn of Solon. Overtime seemed a certainty.

“Typical Solon-Regina,” said Solon Coach Jeremy McMurrin. “I think we’ve played one-goal games the last four years. It was exactly what we expected it to be. Unfortunately we had the one mistake that cost us. Other than that, I thought it was a perfect championship game.”

Regina (19-2-1) is only the second school to win three straight spring championships, following Cedar Rapids Xavier (2004-06 in 1A when it was only a two-class tournament). All three titles were secured via one-goal wins, including last season in double-overtime.

You can’t say these Regals aren’t clutch. Solon finished 17-3-1, coming oh, so close in its first state tourney appearance.

“I thought we could make it back three years (in a row),” Rummelhart said. “But I never thought we would win three. Never.”

Iowa City Regina's Chris Nott (10, left) and Solon goalie Derrick Loveless look back as Nott scores the winning goal for the Regals in the 1A championship game at the state tournament Saturday, June 4, 2011, at Cownie Soccer Park in Des Moines. (Liz Martin/SourceMedia Group News)

Here is the all-tournament team and a short video interview with Nott:

Daryn Fraise (Fort Madison Holy Trinity)
Ben Rector (Fort Madison Holy Trinity)
Collin Ascherl (MOC/Floyd Valley)
Jose Anzua (MOC/Floyd Valley)
Nick Day (Solon)
Ben Reed (Solon)
Marshall Koehn (Solon)
Zach Pechous (Iowa City Regina)
Daniel Larew (Iowa City Regina)
Braden Lehman (Iowa City Regina)
Captain – Johnny Rummelhart (Iowa City Regina)