By Jeremy McDonald
Jeremymcdonald73@gmail.com
TURNER, Ore.– Tuesday afternoon was just another day at the office for Stayton Head Coach Chris Shields.
The Eagles made the ten minute drive to Cascade High School to play their rival in an Oregon West Conference game, a game in which Stayton won 4-1 to improve to 9-0-1 on the year.
But it was that ninth victory that put the Eagle Head Coach into some rarified air. It was his 250th career victory.
And based on his reaction, how he and his team interacted after the game, talking about the game, you think it was just another Tuesday game and victory for the squad.
“It meant I spent a lot of time in it,” laughs Shields about the milestone. “It just validates the time and energy that you spent out here with the kids and spend away from home and family. I didn’t ever imagine, when I first started out, that it was my goal, but now I got something to look at.”
Shields entered the season sitting tenth All-Time with victories, then at 241 before the Eagles started the season. Starting his head coaching career in 2002 at Stayton, Shields has been a fixture at the helm with the Eagles. Turning them into a respected 4A powerhouse with a 4A State Title in 2010 and the Covid-Shortened State Title in the Spring of 2021 to go with four State Runner-Up’s in-between.
He and South Salem’s Eric Johnansen, who currently sits second with 365 victories, are currently active coaches in the Top 10 of the All-Time List.
“I’m happy with the success of the program. I’m happy that I’ve had good players and good guys to be around. Overall, good, positive,” Shields said.
Stayton jumped out to a 2-0 halftime lead on Cascade, finishing on those two opportunities despite creating a few more on top of it that the Cougar defense stopped in the opening forty that Cascade continued into the last forty. It wasn’t the prettiest of wins, but it gave Stayton something to look forward towards in preparation for Thursday’s game with Philomath.
“Philomath is still very good,” starts Shields. “I felt like we were super sloppy today overall… there were times when the ball was bouncing up, hitting people in the foot, or we missed passes. That was us today. We looked tired and lethargic.”
Kickoff at home against the Warriors start at 4pm.
Photos By Jeremy McDonald
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