By Jeremy McDonald
Jeremymcdonald73@gmail.com
SALEM, Ore.– The Dayton Boys Soccer team was persistent with their offensive strategy:
Be the aggressor.
They had their opportunities in the first half against rival Blanchet, but couldn’t push a goal across because of the response that the Cavaliers threw back at the Pirates. It was a 0-0 ball game entering the second half of the 3A Special District 2 contest between two of the classification’s top teams.
Dayton came out of the halftime break with more fire, more intensity as they won the time of possession coming out of the break. They had the slight nod in that category entering half, but they came out in the second 40 minutes with more of that umph that they hoped would eventually break the stout Blanchet defense that they were facing.
“We came in knowing that we wanted to keep the possession of the ball the best that we could. We did a really good job moving the ball, finding those gaps. The first half was a little closer than we wanted to, then in the second half the gaps opened up a little more, which we were able to capitalize on,” said Dayton Head Coach Jony Miramontes. “And that’s the beauty of having a little more possession of the ball. When we had the opportunities, we were able to capitalize.”
And eventually the Pirates were able to capitalize. With 22 remaining in the game, success for the Pirates.
It started with a free kick that was sent in. Blanchet’s Robert Sandoval read’s it perfectly, gets a hand on it to derail it upward into the sky. But. As Sandoval was bringing the ball down after seeing it down, it slipped out into traffic. Dayton’s Nathan Morales was right there and poked the ball into the goal. Capitalizing on a golden opportunity that presented itself.
The freshman, earlier in the game, missed an opportunity to break the tie sooner in the contest, but couldn’t execute. But Morales remembered what his coaches told him and kept battling, eventually scoring that go-ahead goal in his first Blanchet-Dayton Rivalry game.
“Coach told me to keep my head up, so I did and I got a goal after a few minutes,” Morales said. “It meant a lot to me because I really wanted to play this team, and I wanted to get this victory.”
The job wasn’t done yet.
It was Blanchet. It was at Blanchet’s field, and the Cavs weren’t about to go quietly into the night. Blanchet kept battling during those final 22 minutes, coming off their 3-1 victory over Salem Academy two nights earlier, they scored twice late to take that game on the road.
However, that kind of magic from Tuesday didn’t materialize as it did that night at Salem Academy. The Pirates were able to keep the Cavaliers from evening up the game late in what became a 1-0 road victory for Dayton.
Photos By Jeremy McDonald
