By Jeremy McDonald
Jeremymcdonald73@gmail.com
STAYTON, Ore.– These last two games for Stayton, have spoke truly to their character as a team and their sheer determination to find a way to get it done.
In recent years, the 4A playoffs have been a thing of heartbreak. Some call it a curse, some call it an unlucky bounce of the ball. But maybe, just maybe, things are beginning to take that favorable bounce for the Eagles as they finally found their way back to the 4A State Title Game following Tuesday night’s victory over Klamath Union.
This past Saturday, in the 4A State Quarterfinals, Stayton survived Tillamook in Penalty Kicks. Advancing to the State Semi’s on Tuesday against the Pelicans.
Even then, the rematch of last season’s State Quarterfinal match-up had it’s adversity as both teams battled in front of a packed crowd in Stayton.
Stayton led 1-0 at the halftime break, only to see Klamath Union knot it up at one in the opening minute of the second half. The Eagles pulled ahead in the 54th minute with a Johnny Garcia goal, only to see the Pelicans pull even once more with 17 minutes left in the game following an Alex Alvarez goal.
Five minutes later however, the Eagles found their third goal of the game. This time by freshman Cesar Perez as the Eagles pulled ahead 3-2.
“It felt great, I didn’t know if it went in, but I had to get the rebound and score it. It felt great,” said Perez. “We’ve had our ups-and-downs, we’re coming up against North Marion (on Saturday) and we’ll see how we do.”
The Eagles clutched up over the final 12 minutes of the game. They couldn’t add to their lead, but they did enough to hold off KU to punch their ticket to the finals for the first time since the Covid-Shortened year when they won the Title. 2019 was the last year they made it in a normal season.
After going through an absolute gauntlet the last two games, they got to the final day of the season. Battled tested and ready to see if they can bring home a First Place trophy Saturday night.
“It just keeps building up from the ground up. We keep playing hard like we did tonight, like we did Saturday. If we keep playing like that, we’ll definitely have a game on Saturday,” said Ty Williams.
“I think it’s a testament of what we’re creating and our determination…this group, especially on Saturday, pushed through something that was pretty traumatic and came back ahead. Tonight, again pushed through it and they had to push through the injuries, pushed through whatever to win and that’s a testament to who we are and what we do here,” adds Stayton Head Coach Chris Shields. “It’s a game. You get lucky and you get bounces that go your way and bounces that don’t. It’s our turn to be here. It’s our turn to get to the final and hopefully on Saturday we turn this thing around and bring home a Blue Trophy versus a Silver one.”
It’ll be a rematch of the 2014 State Title Game with the Huskies, North Marion defeating Henley on Saturday to advance to the State Title Game for the second-straight year. The game is scheduled to start at 6:30pm at Liberty High School.
Photos By Jeremy McDonald
