Billings, Montana: Cal Weisen Scores in Final Minute as Billings Central Beats Whitefish 1-0 for the Class A State Soccer Title

Billings Central is the Montana Class A boys soccer champion again, and the Rams needed almost every second of the final to get there.

Sophomore Cal Weisen scored in the final minute at Amend Park on Saturday afternoon, lifting Billings Central to a 1-0 win over Whitefish in the state championship game. With overtime looming, Holden Guenthner played a ball behind the Whitefish defense, Weisen took one dribble and finished, and the Central student section behind the goal erupted.

A final that stayed scoreless for 79 minutes

Central controlled possession for much of the match and kept Whitefish goalkeeper Ben Nelson busy. Nelson turned away several Central chances in the first half to keep the game scoreless through the opening 40 minutes, and he kept making saves in the second half as the Rams pressed forward.

The Rams thought they had the lead in the first half, but a Guenthner goal was taken off the board for offside. A shot from Lucas Sylvester sailed just wide in the second half. The longer the game stayed at 0-0, the closer Whitefish came to forcing overtime.

Guenthner said the disallowed goal only pushed the team harder. "It was just go, go, go. After that first one we were disappointed, but getting the last one in the 80th minute meant the world to everyone," he told MTN Sports.

Weisen said he scored it for the seniors on the roster, naming Skyler Sanchez and Troy Sogaard. "I feel like shock is the best way to put it. It was surreal," he told SWX Local Sports after the game. After scoring, Weisen sprinted to the Billings Central student section to celebrate with the home crowd.

Third title for the Rams

The win gives Billings Central its second Class A title in three years and its third boys soccer championship in program history. The first came in 2009, also against Whitefish. The two programs have now met in the title game three times in four years. Whitefish won in 2023, Central answered with a championship in 2024, and Central took the latest meeting on Saturday.

Both of the Rams' last two titles have come under third year head coach Bilechi Sumaili, who said the plan all along was to finish the game in regulation. "We went into this game, and we were not going to go overtime, that was the whole plan," Sumaili told SWX Local Sports.

Whitefish finishes as the state runner up for the second straight year. The Bulldogs held the Rams scoreless for 79 minutes and got a strong game from Nelson in goal, but one pass behind the defense in the final minute decided the championship.