In a battle for the Kishwaukee River Conference girls soccer tournament championship, the last few minutes were like a blur.

At least that’s how Johnsburg freshman Dorothy Ruth felt as she and the Skyhawks sought out a potential game-winning goal in the final moments of their championship match against Richmond-Burton on Wednesday. For a period, it appeared that both teams would head for penalty kicks, as neither side managed to score as time melted away.

Just one breakthrough was needed. That moment came in the 76th minute, when Ruth took possession and dribbled to her left before rolling a pass forward through a narrow seam in the R-B defense. Sprinting to the goal was senior forward Liz Smith, who took Ruth’s through ball and booted it beyond the arms of R-B’s Rylee Molczan.

Not only did Smith’s goal break a scoreless tie, but it proved to be the game winner Johnsburg fought for all game. In a shutout effort, the Skyhawks emerged with a 1-0 victory to clinch a season sweep of the KRC regular season and tournament titles. Johnsburg (12-0, 6-0 KRC) also remained undefeated with one regular season match left.

“It was all kind of a blur,” Ruth said. “I got the ball and I saw Liz through a gap there. She worked so hard the entire game and I saw her there, so I played the ball and she made it through. To see it go over the line, it’s so exciting and it was a really great moment.”

The goal alleviated an increasing amount of tension for the Skyhawks, who outshot R-B in the first half and earned five corner kicks in the second half, but were unable to find the net. Smith, who led her team in shots on goal, contended with double teams throughout the night. Her burst of speed in the 76th minute led to her best chance to score.

“There was a lot of frustration building up throughout the game, but we believed in our team to the last second,” Smith said. “Every part of our field, we all believe in each other. ... Dorothy was giving great balls all game and I just had to execute and slow down around the keeper.”

Molczan compiled 10 saves for the Rockets (13-3, 5-1 KRC), who’re the only team this season to hold Johnsburg to one goal in a game. While R-B had just two shots on goal in the first half, both chances nearly put the Rockets ahead. The first dangerous chance came in the 11th minute, when Sydney Frericks beat a Skyhawk defender and was one-on-one with Johnsburg keeper Lila Konrad, who made the save.

“Going into the season, we had no idea what was going to happen,” said Konrad, who totaled five saves to seal Johnsburg’s 10th shutout of the season. “Once we got here, we just turned on that switch. It’s all about our recovery. Every single time something happens, we have our recovery down at our back line. We just recover the ball.”

In the 38th minute, R-B senior Nicole Mendlik fired a free kick from just outside the box that sped around a wall of Skyhawks and banged off the left goalpost. It wasn’t the only time the Rockets drew iron. Midway through the second half, R-B applied heavy pressure and in the 61st minute, a shot from the left side once again hit the post.

“We’re right there to challenge them,” R-B coach Casey DeCaluwe said. “We had one slip up after not winning the ball in the midfield and they countered on it. We hit two posts and we couldn’t find the back of the net when we had all of the momentum in the last 15 minutes. We’re close. I’m not disappointed in the effort from my team.”

Johnsburg’s goal came after close to a dozen shots on or around the net. In the 20th minute, Smith ripped a line drive toward the goal that Molczan stopped in its tracks. Molczan then made a diving save on a shot by London Baidinger in the 32nd minute to keep the match even.

“We know their players very well,” DeCaluwe said. “We knew we had to contain Liz and I thought we did that for 76 minutes. We wanted to make sure that Charlie [Eastland] couldn’t control the midfield. If we could stop Charlie, we could stop Liz. That was our game plan.”

Johnsburg will attempt to cap off a perfect regular season with a win against Byron next Thursday. R-B will take on Grant next Tuesday.