By Jeremy McDonald
Jeremymcdonald73@gmail.com
STAYTON, Ore.– The Stayton Boys Soccer team came out firing in the second half of their Oregon West Conference game with Cascade.
They, the Eagles, trailed their rival 1-0 entering the final 40 minutes of the game. They were faced with a challenge:
Score twice, or see the Cougars win their first-ever League Title on their field, on their Senior Night.
So Stayton went to work as the second half began looking for that positive decision. They fed off of the talk that longtime Head Coach Chris Shields had gave them during intermission.
The crowd was packed. You knew it was a big game, it felt like a 4A State Quarterfinal or a State Semi’s with how packed it was. Stayton began to feed off of that energy as well as they began pressuring the Cougar defense from the start.
“Just keep your head up, they have all the momentum. There’s another 40 minutes and 40 minutes is a long time,” Stayton’s Josiah Dessieux of the halftime talk.
Cascade faced it head-on as they did in the first half. For the first few minutes of the first half, the Eagles had their chances, but the Cougar defense held strong before their offense began to open the field up a little bit to give themselves some room to work.
They tried to do much of the same in the second half, but the Eagles came prepared however and were able to counter it and kept the pressure on the Cascade defense. Ten, fifteen, twenty minutes into the second half, Stayton kept applying the pressure before finally breaking through in the 60th minute off a Dessieux goal that tied it.
That Dessieux goal seemed to wake the Cougs up a bit as they began to come around. The Cinderella team of 4A faced the unbreakable program head-on once more as they hoped to get out of this one with another favorable decision against Stayton.
Given Cascade’s recent run of success, it was hard to imagine the Cougars in a position like this. Tied with Stayton after already securing a win over the Eagles earlier in the season, the Cougars found themselves in the thick of the league title race with the game winding down and a crowd of that size behind them. It was a moment they took pride in. The Rooter Bus of students, the fans and parents who came out. The support was there.
“That’s what we told the guys, we got a rooter bus with 30 kids. Just the amount of people that packed out to see this game shows the competition, the rivalry, it’s really built up to that level this year of something. These are probably Games-of-the-Year, they were beautiful,” said Cascade Head Coach Matt Dillon.
And it looked like the Cougars would have just enough in the tank to hold off Stayton for the 1-1 tie.
Then. The Eagles found an opportunity with three minutes left in the game and took full advantage of it.
Dessieux drove into the box from the far side, surrounded by Cascade defenders, the senior worked the ball around with some footwork, eventually getting to the top of the box and shot. Finding just enough of a gap in the defense to get the ball to the goal and in the right spot for it to go in with three minutes left in the game.
Stayton now led 2-1. Capping a two-goal rally by the Eagles at this point.
Cascade kept fighting however. They had two chances in the closing 90 seconds to force a draw, but the Eagle defense proved too tough to overcome.
Both teams were overwhelmed with emotion. Stayton with celebration, the Cougars with tears. Both left it out on the field, and both are leaving the field just that much better. Stayton will close out the regular season at Philomath on Tuesday, looking to close out another OWC League Title on that day.
“Our first game against Cascade humbled us. It showed us that even though we won State, it doesn’t mean it’s guaranteed next time. We still have a lot of work to put in.” said Dessieux. “If we can continue to carry this momentum and carry this defense…Our defense was amazing today, and just carrying that same momentum into the playoffs, I think we’ll be able to make it really far.”
Cascade, despite falling for the first time this season, will look to rebound Tuesday at Taft as they continue this incredible run that they are on.
“These guys. This was more than they bargained for this year. The progress that we made as a team, as people, these kids, they’re great kids. You see them in the hallway, they’re leaders. Outside of the game, they’ve done so well, just as people. First of all, they need praise for that. The way they compete, the way they show up. Look at the last three seasons, would you expect Cascade to split with Stayton and be tied at the goal differential? 5-5 in two games,” said Dillon.
“This just shows us how much more we want it. The emotion after the game. These seniors, they’re shedding tears because they knew that we were in it. But they know that it’s not over yet, that’s why they’re not completely sobbing. We’ve got so much season left and I hope we see Stayton in the finals. 4A wants to see Stayton-Cascade in the final, that’s a beautiful game.”
Photos By Jeremy McDonald
