DES MOINES - Isaac Frisch kept his promise Friday.

As a result, the Xavier Saints will be gunning for their third state title in four years Saturday in the Class 2A state soccer tournament at Cownie Park.

Frisch blasted in the game-winning goal with 5 minutes, 36 seconds left in the second overtime Friday as the Saints rallied to trim Pella, 2-1, in a semifinal thriller.

Frisch was exhausted, but he delivered.

"He promised a goal. And when he scored I couldn't believe it," exclaimed Xavier Coach Amir Hadzic, relieved with the victory.

Xavier (13-5) will face Storm Lake (15-1) for the title on Saturday at 2:35 p.m.

Frisch made his promise to Hadzic before the Saints took the field for double-overtime.

"He looked me in the eye," said Hadzic. "I said, 'Do you have it?' And he said, 'Coach, I will score. I will score.' He repeated it.

"And then at the end after everybody had hugged him, he said, 'I told you I'd score.'"

Frisch, a senior who helped Xavier win state titles in 2010 and 2011, scored the Saints' first goal with 16:39 left in the first half on pretty passes from Stephen Jones and Kalaen Lilly. That tied the game, 1-1, and it stayed that way for an eternity until Frisch delivered again in the second overtime.

Colin Gunn, another senior, began the game-winning play when he passed the ball to Frisch to the left of the Pella goal. Frisch leads the Saints in scoring and is a guy-to guy, so Gunn knew who to find with the season hanging in the balance.

"I saw Frisch out of the corner of my eye. I thought it was a good idea to give it to him," Gunn said slyly.

Frisch was running on fumes by then, but he had just enough energy to get it done.

"I basically had nothing left in me," he said. "But I knew it, I felt it. When my teammate Colin Gunn had the ball ... he made a great pass to me.

"I was seeing it, and I took two guys, and I just finished it."

His blast eluded Pella goalkeeper Ben Robertson to end the game after 94 minutes and 24 seconds.

The Saints dominated the game, but found themselves in an extreme battle against the scrappy Little Dutch. Hadzic had an uncomfortable flashback to the state tournament in 2007, when the Saints lost to Norwalk in the semifinals despite dominating that game as well.

"We had chance after chance after chance. We couldn't put it in and we lost," said Hadzic, whose 2007 club was undefeated at the time. "And I was looking up today and said, 'Again?'"

No, not again.

"We didn't stop believing," said Hadzic. "That was the key.

"Sometimes you see kids tired or something, but they said 'Let's keep going, Let's keep going' and they believed they could score."

After all, Frisch promised.

"He's just been amazing these past four years," said Gunn. "It's been an honor to play with him. He comes up clutch every time we need him."

Frisch was exhausted, but promised to be ready for the finals on Saturday. "Yeah, of course," he said. "I mean, we want this bad."

The Saints lost in the first round to Norwalk last year after winning titles in 2010 and 2011. They said fatigue will not be a problem in the championship game.

"It feels great to be back in the title game after being denied last year," said Gunn. "We're hungry to get that championship."

Hadzic is confident his players will be ready.

"I feel the guys will find the energy, even though they spent so much of it today, physically and mentally," he said. "It's state finals. There's no need to motivate kids to go out and play hard."

BOYS STATE SOCCER TOURNAMENT
At Des Moines

Friday

Class 3A
Semifinals
Iowa City West 2, CR Kennedy 0
Iowa City High 2, Johnston 1

Class 2A
Semifinals
CR Xavier 2, Pella 1 (2OT)
Storm Lake 1, Waverly-Shell Rock 0 (2OT)

Class 1A
Semifinals
Dyersville Beckman 3, Nevada 0
Iowa City Regina 4, West Liberty 0

Saturday

Class 3A
Championship
Iowa City West (19-1) vs. Iowa City High (17-2), 5 pm

Consolation
CR Kennedy (16-4) vs. Johnston (19-2), 4:10 pm

Class 2A
Championship
CR Xavier (13-5) vs. Storm Lake (15-1), 2:30 pm

Consolation
Pella (14-6-2) vs. Waverly-Shell Rock (13-5), 1:40 pm

Class 1A
Championship
Dyersville Beckman (17-0-1) vs. Iowa City Regina (14-1), 12:05 pm

Consolation
Nevada (13-5) vs. West Liberty (10-7-3), 11:10 am