Luke Beaman has scored a school-record 31 goals this season for Brookings-Harbor. (Photo by Tom Konomos)

Following back-to-back runs to the 4A semifinals, Brookings-Harbor’s boys soccer team believed it was ready to finally reach the top of the mountain in 2018.

So it’s understandable that the Bruins were let down when they found out that they wouldn’t be climbing the same mountain this season.

After the school requested and received a geographic exception from the OSAA, Brookings-Harbor moved from the 4A Far West League to 3A/2A/1A Special District 4.

“I wasn’t real happy about it,” Bruins coach Jess Beaman said. “This year was the year that the older kids, the seniors, have been getting us to. We wanted to make a good run for it again this year. The seniors were a little disappointed about that.”

Predictably, fourth-ranked Brookings-Harbor (9-1) has cut a wide path through the competition in Special District 4. The Bruins are 8-0 in district play, outscoring their opponents 67-0. In two matches against second-place Umpqua Valley Christian, they won 7-0 and 2-0.

Beaman had hoped the Bruins would end up in Special District 5, where it would be challenged by Medford-based top-10 teams St. Mary’s and Cascade Christian. But travel considerations landed them in Special District 4.

It didn't help that because they play each district opponent twice, they had room for only two nonleague games, filling them with two 4A schools. They beat Marshfield 2-0 and lost to Mazama 2-1 in their most competitive matches of the season.

Beaman said he will be pushing for only one round of district play in 2019.

“I want to see if that’s possible so we can get out there,” he said.

The senior-dominated Bruins have two four-year varsity players in Luke Beaman and Roman Worthey and four three-year letterman in Jacob Norman, Zach Carlson, Austin Fronckowiak and Ethan Sayne.

Luke Beaman has led the way by setting a single-season school record with 31 goals. In the first match against Umpqua Valley Christian, he scored all seven of the Bruins’ goals. Colleges are showing interest in him, according to Jess Beaman.

Freshman Fabian Villa and junior Jair Valdovinos also have provided offense, as has Worthey, a defender with a powerful long-range shot.

Jess Beaman has coached many of the seniors since they were in the fifth grade. They inspired him to start Brookings United, a youth club that began traveling the state in search of higher competition.

“I noticed they would always do pretty well in league, but when they got to the playoffs, they would just get stomped on,” Jess Beaman said. “I wanted to get them more prepared for what’s out there, that way they wouldn’t be shell-shocked when it came to it.”

He believes that experience was a big reason why the Bruins were able to reach the semifinals the last two years. They expect to do it again, where teams such as No. 1 Catlin Gabel, No. 2 St. Mary’s and No. 3 Oregon Episcopal are likely to be standing in their way.

“We’re going to try to make the same run and keep our heads focused on doing it in 3A/2A/1A,” Jess Beaman said.