DES MOINES - The Xavier Saints will be gunning for their seventh state title Saturday thanks to a precocious freshman who used his head at the right time.

Will Hanigan scored the game-winning goal with 5 minutes, 27 seconds left in overtime Friday as the Saints trimmed Norwalk, 3-2, in the semifinals of the Class 2A state soccer tournament.

"That was one of the best moments of my life," said Hanigan, exuberant in victory. "I'm just glad I can help our team make it to the finals, but we deserved that game.

"I'm just super-happy with that."

Xavier (16-2) will face DeWitt Central (19-1) in the championship match Saturday at 2:30 p.m. at the Cownie Soccer Park in Des Moines.

The Saints had a 2-0 lead with a little more than 10 minutes left in regulation against Norwalk, but the defending state champs scored twice in two minutes and sent the battle into overtime.

The winning play began when Stephen Jones took a corner kick for Xavier and put the ball right in the goal mouth where it belonged. Connor Ramlo and Luke Duball had their shots from point-blank range turned aside, but the ball came right to Hanigan.

"The ball was deflecting around," Hanigan recalled. "Luke Duball tried to deflect it in, and I was just standing there and had an open goal with my head.

"So just lucky," he claimed, smiling, "but I'll take it."

Hanigan scored the only goal Thursday in Xavier's 1-0 victory over ADM in the opening round and collected two more goals in the semifinals.

"He's having a great tournament for freshman," said Xavier Coach Amir Hadzic. "After yesterday I didn't know how he would respond. We put all the emphasis on him (with the winning goal).

"A 14-year-old kid, I did not know how he would handle. But he's a gamer. He just came ready to play and he likes to score goals. And we really like we will have him in the program the next three years."

It's certainly been a team effort for the Saints, but the rookie has scored three of his team's four goals in the tournament.

"I came in as a freshman having pretty high goals for myself," said Hanigan, "and I think I'm meeting them right now. So I'm pleased with that.

"But I've got to forget about that game and go into the finals now, because that's what's important."

Senior Connor Ramlo, who will play soccer at Creighton, scored Xavier's first goal Friday in the first half for a 1-0 lead. Hanigan made it 2-0 early in the second half and the Saints appeared to be in good shape as the clock reached the 10-minute mark, but Norwalk was not ready to give up.

Norwalk scored at the 10:04 mark and again with exactly eight minutes left in regulation and suddenly it was anybody's ballgame.

"My players usually laugh when I say 2-0 is the worst score in soccer, because you are comfortable," said Hadzic. "You have a lead, but just one goal can really change the complexion of the game.

"We made two unfortunate fouls and they had the great shooters on the free kicks."

Somehow, the Saints dug a little deeper and found a way to win in overtime.

"It was hard to re-group, but we said to ourselves in the huddle going into overtime, 'Let's finish this right away in the first overtime,' and we delivered," said Hadzic.

"We decided to put pressure in overtime," he said. "We didn't want to go to PKs (penalty kicks if both 10-minute overtimes are scoreless)."

The winning sequence began when the Norwalk goal-keeper was penalized for illegally catching the ball on a kick from one of his own teammates.

Norwalk argued that they did not intentionally kick the ball to their own keeper, but the referee ruled otherwise and gave Xavier a free kick to the right of the goal.

Ramlo's shot was blocked, but the ball went out-of-bounds and the Saints were given a corner kick that led to the winning goal.

"Goal-keeper is supposed to just kick the ball. He cannot catch it if ball is passed intentionally," Hadzic explained. "I couldn't determine from my position.

"If I was in their coach's position, I would argue it too, because it was kind of 50-50."

Jones hit the corner kick and all mayhem broke loose as the ball bounced from one player to another on both sides.

"I hit the ball," said Jones. "I saw that Connor Ramlo is always in a good spot. And Nolan Armstrong and Will Hanigan were right behind him, I think."

Finally, Hanigan ended the pin-ball match with the winning header.

"Relief," said Jones, recalling his immediate reaction. "Norwalk has always been a huge opponent with ours. Every year, it's just an incredible rivalry.

"Last year they got us, so we returned the favor this year."

Jones attributed the victory to his team's composure after the 2-0 lead disappeared.

"Obviously it's disheartening when two goals go in, but I think it's just a maturity thing," he remarked. "Just the ability to stay composed. That's a trait that our team has. We just have a fight in us."

Now the Saints will be fighting for their seventh state title in school history. Iowa City West owns the most state soccer titles with eight. The Saints are next with six.

"We know Iowa City West had eight, Regina has five. We are sitting on that six," said Hadzic, who has won three state titles at Xavier. "We really want to get that lucky seven. And we'll do anything we can to get there."