By Jeremy McDonald
Jeremymcdonald73@gmail.com
DAYTON, Ore.– The rivalry has entered another chapter to its elusive story as the Blanchet and Dayton Boys Soccer team opened the 3A/2A/1A Special District 2 league play on Thursday night.
And like its previous seven chapters, we had pretty much the same intensity, passion, and toughness that made this match-up so entertaining to watch.
Though the game ended in a 0-0 tie, this game was, in a way, won in the trenches as Dayton’s Mason Perez and Blanchet’s Ethan Sieng each held it down for their respective squads in net. Their defensive lines bought them time to set themselves up for anything to come their way.
They, as goalies, were the last line of defense to keep the other squad’s offense from getting one by them.
It was stressful. Dayton brought the pressure, Blanchet loaded the defensive half to shut off any passing lanes, and the same was running lanes, knowing the talent that the Pirates have on the offensive half. The Cavaliers had their chances as well, with more the fast-break pressure that was also stopped when they got close to the Dayton box. It was just a matter of controlling the chaos of the moment.
“Just being on my toes, being ready for anything coming my way. I know that they’ve had a strong leg, and I just have to be prepared for that stuff. If it goes through my line, I’m the last man in the back to block that shot,” said Perez.
“I think I did alright, I could’ve done a lot better. My team has helped a lot, and that kind of even it out ” adds Sieng. “We just got to score against them. It’s a really even match, and they tend to play up a lot, so if we could figure out a way to get by that. We just got to train more and hopefully win when we play them again.”
Going back to the 2022 season, the rivalry has seen eight match-ups, including Thursday’s tie that has seen it as even as you can hope for with Blanchet holding the slight advantage in the 3-2-3 series to this point as it’s expected that these two teams could meet again down the line.
In the meantime, Blanchet will be hosting Taft on Tuesday while the Pirates will host Salem Academy on Tuesday.
Photos By Jeremy McDonald
