Despite leading the 5A classification in goals scored this season, Jayden Cosper opted to allow someone else to put the finishing touches on Wasatch’s 3-1 state semifinal win over East on Monday.

In so doing, the senior striker perhaps exemplified the process of why the Wasps are on the cusp of winning a third-straight state championship.

With East furiously staging a late rally, and Wasatch clinging to a 2-1 lead, Cosper found himself with the ball at his feet and a wide open field between just him at East’s goalie with just under two minutes remaining. Running together with Cosper was fellow senior Dekker Runyan, whom Cosper gladly assisted in scoring that final goal.

“Dekker is my buddy and I could have slotted it in(to the goal), but I wanted to give him the goal,” Cosper said. “I felt like he deserved it.”

Dekker hit the back of the net with ease and with just 1:54 left on the clock, giving Wasatch Coach Lance Cosper, Jayden’s father, some much-needed relief.

“I was like, ‘Oh finally!,’ get that stress off of me,” Lance Cosper said. 

Cosper’s relief came after East staged multiple scoring chances in the game’s final 20 minutes which his team just managed to escape from.

“We had to defend like crazy,” Lance Cosper said. “Hats off to my boys. We have a lot of seniors who have stepped up and we’re doing well.”

Leading off the scoring for Wasatch was senior Bode Heelis, who was afforded a penalty kick in the game’s 37th minute. The senior striker knew exactly what to do, placing the ball in the right corner of the goal with East’s goalie lunging the other way for the no-doubter.

The goal gave the Wasps a 1-0 lead going into the half, but perhaps more importantly gave them a surge of momentum after East controlled the play for much of the game’s first 40 minutes.

“That first half was rough,” Jayden Cosper said. “They definitely had the ball more than us, but I think that goal at the end really helped us a lot. Going into the second half we had momentum.”

It took under a minute after halftime for Wasatch to parlay the momentum it snatched at the end of the first half into a 2-0 lead.

Wasatch kicked the ball off to start the second half and immediately moved it into scoring range due to some effective maneuvering by Heelis. Heelis then found Jayden Cosper who adeptly placed a long shot into the back of the net for the goal.

“Bode caused havoc, gave me a touch outside of the box and I hit it one time,” Jayden described. “I knew the second I hit it that it was going in.”

“We kind of changed the momentum and it gave us a lot to build on,” Lance Cosper added. “It was just my boys doing what they needed to do and hitting the back of the net.”

The rest of the second half proved physical and highly competitive, with East’s Angel Mendoza cutting the lead to 2-1 in 55th minute before Runyan effectively ended things with his goal scored in the 78th minute.

After the game both Cospers described this year’s team as very close, particularly a group of 14 seniors, of which 13 of them already have received mission calls for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

“They’re really, really tight-knit, and it shows on the field and off the field,” Lance Cosper said. “The seniors who didn’t play last year have stepped up and stepped right in. I didn’t know so many seniors would be starting, but we’re starting nine of them.”

Wasatch will square off versus Alta in for the 5A state championship on Thursday in what has been a well-earned journey for all involved.

“These boys deserve it,” Lance Cosper said. “They’ve worked their butts off all year and now we’re here. It’s awesome.”