Sixteen years have passed since the West High soccer team last played for a state championship. On Friday, the Eagles ended their drought in a matter of seconds.

West senior Beazit Redzepi headed in a marker 40 seconds into his team's semifinal match of the Alaska School Activities Association's state tournament to send the Eagles past Wasilla 1-0 at Anchorage Football Stadium.

"I didn't expect it to go in," said Redzepi, who scored on West's first possession. "Nobody was on the goalie, so I figured, 'Why not take the shot?' "

Now West (13-3-1) has a chance to seize the program's first title since 1993 and its fifth all-time. Tonight at 6:30, the Eagles take on South -- a program that has played in every state final match since the school opened in 2004.

The last time West captured a state title, its coach, Laef Eggan, was a senior forward on the team. In fact, he scored the winning goal in a 1-0 victory over Chugiak.

Eggan is psyched to see the Eagles back in the championship match.

"They've worked extremely hard all season," he said. "At the beginning of the year I didn't think it would turn out the way it did, and they keep surprising me."

On Friday, West shocked its coach on the first possession, when Conner Taylor got things rolling from the opening kick.

The senior forward drove the ball into Wasilla's box and a Wasilla defender knocked it out. But Taylor served it back into the box, where there was a scramble for possession.

Redzepi finished the play and gave the Eagles an early lead they never relinquished.

Redzepi, a senior, said he couldn't have planned a better way to start a match.

"It brought (Wasilla) down and gave us some confidence," he said.

Dylan Faber, the team captain, reeked of confidence in goal. The freshman manufactured his second consecutive shutout of the tournament.

In his playoff performances, which include last week's Cook Inlet Conference tournament, Faber has given up just four goals in five matches.

Friday's match was his second shutout in the playoffs and eighth of the season.

"He's the best goalie I've seen in the state," Eggan said. "He oozes confidence. And you need confidence to play the position.

"He knows he's good and he backs it up every time he crosses the line."

South 3, Dimond 1 OT

Forget the Swine Flu. Overtime has become contagious at the state tournament.

South's overtime win over Dimond on Friday not only put the Wolverines in tonight's title match against West, it set a record for the most overtime matches played in a state soccer tournament.

A total of six matches -- three girls' matches, three boys' matches -- have needed extra time to be decided. And five of those have required shootouts.

Matches go into shootouts when a winner hasn't been declared after two 10-minute and two five-minute periods. That's an extra 180 minutes of soccer this week in both the girls and boys tournaments.

The previous record for overtime matches at the state tournament came two years ago when five were tied after regulation.

Shootouts can be exciting for fans to watch, but for players like South's Andres Tavares, playing 30 extra minutes takes a toll on the lower body.

"Nobody wants to go through this -- it sucks," the senior captain said. "My legs are dead right now.

"The matches keep going and going and going. And every chance you get, you want to make the best of it."

The Wolverines outscored Dimond, the Cook Inlet Conference tournament champions, 3-1 in shootout kicks.

South goalkeeper Alex Toomey denied Dimond on its first three shots and allowed just one to pass through.

Lynx keeper Arturo Oberto blocked South's first shot, but the Wolverines rattled off three straight for the win.

Tanner Smith played hero, scoring the winning shootout marker. He was mobbed by a pack of South players.

"I just wanted to get it over with," he said.