WHITEFISH -Billings Central's third appearance in the State A boys soccer championship game certainly turned out to be the charm.

Senior midfielder Steven Sheehy scored a pair of second-half goals and the Rams put together one of their best performances of the season Saturday afternoon in beating Whitefish 5-1 in the title showdown on a soggy and damp Smith Field.

When it was all over, the Central players celebrated their first state championship by rollicking in the mud. The Rams rushed across the field and dove into a muddy patch of grass in front of the school's rooting section.

"Our guys played great," Central coach Pat Cates said later. "Everybody played incredible today, from the defense through the forwards, they stepped up. They decided that this was their game and they weren't going to let anybody take it away from them."

The Rams, whose boys soccer program has been around for 13 years, lost in overtime in the 2005 title match and were beaten in a shootout last season.

But this time around, Central, which finished its season with a 12-1-1 record, jumped ahead 3-0 by halftime and was never seriously threatened by the 10-4-1 Bulldogs.

"We worked well together and played fluidly," said Sheehy, one of 10 senior starters for Central. "It was great. It feels amazing.

"We wanted it bad. It was the last game for most of us," he added. "We all wanted it bad."

"It's a big relief, that's for sure," Cates said of securing the championship trophy. "Emotion was all over the guys' faces. These seniors, their first time playing on this field was when Whitefish was unbelievable and we lost 14-3.

"So to be able to come back and beat Whitefish on this field for the state championship is just a great feeling."

The Rams went to work quickly, scoring in the game's seventh minute on a goal by Kevin Klee, who slipped behind a pair of Whitefish defenders and scored off an assist by Dominic Lloyd-Randolfi.

Klee then assisted on a long goal by Mikey Wall in the 14th minute and Cory Miller tapped in another goal off a Mike Eggen assist in the 39th minute to make it 3-0, Central's favor, at halftime.

"The guys came out on fire," Cates said. "They have been waiting a full year to get back to this and came out ready to play."

Wall, who is the only junior starter for the Rams, assisted on Sheehy's first goal three minutes into the second half to make it 4-0.

After Travis Adams put Whitefish on the board in the 69th minute, Sheehy added an unassisted goal a minute later to make it 5-1.

"It was clearly the best game we've played all year and we've played a lot of great games during the year," Cates said.

Central goalie Cody Linde came up with five saves as part of the Rams' staunch defensive effort.

Central got off nine shots on goal, while Whitefish had six.

"I have to give Billings Central all of the credit in the world," Whitefish coach O'Brien Byrd said. "I think it was their day for sure. They brought a great team and they came out swinging.

"It would have been bitter if we had lost to a lesser team and if maybe there was a lot of luck involved, but there wasn't."

Central ended Whitefish's 43-game winning streak in the semifinals last year before losing to Libby in the state finals. The Rams had beaten the Bulldogs 4-1 earlier this season in a non-conference meeting.

"These guys worked at it and worked at it and got a shot last year and it just didn't work out," Cates said. "But to finally get over that hurdle when we have 12 seniors total and 10 starting, it's just a huge, huge deal for these guys."

- Dillon Tabish of The Daily Interlake contributed to this story.

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