PORTLAND – After getting through regulation and overtime with no score, Grant and Cleveland boys soccer couldn’t miss in penalty kicks Tuesday, Nov. 10 at the former Marshall High School in the 6A state semifinals.
Both sides hit their first two before Grant senior Sam Whitman rang one off the near post to give Cleveland a 3-2 advantage.
However, Cleveland’s Zephyr Schlitz returned the favor by sailing one high and Grant converted to knot it back up at three through four rounds.
The two sides hit on the next eight shots to send the PKs into a ninth round tied at seven. And with Cleveland up first, Grant senior goalkeeper Finn Proctor finally came up with the big play, making a save to his left.
Then, it was Grant junior midfielder Evan Hamilton stepping up to the line to try and send the Generals back to the state title game with an 8-7 PKs win.
The Cleveland keeper dove to his left, but the shot went to the right.
Ball game.
“Honestly, it was a lot of pressure, I’m not gonna lie,” Hamilton said. “I just tried to stay calm, not rush my penalty. It was all kind of a blur, I just kind of stepped up there and took my pen. I saw the keeper going right so I tried to switch it back left and it worked out for me.”
“I didn’t think he was the kind of player who wanted to go back across goal,” Proctor said of what he saw on his ninth-round save. “I saw his run up and he opened his hips and from there – once he starts that run, if he starts curling it and goes too narrow he’s never going across.”
Proctor had plenty of time to sit in net and think throughout the evening as Cleveland dropped back defensively most of the match. The Warriors were missing star senior Oscar Johnson and another potential goal scorer in junior midfielder Sam Copus, the latter of which suffered a collarbone injury last round against South Eugene.
With that, the Generals controlled the ball for a majority of the match and pushed it often into the Warriors half of the field, but consistently were stymied in the final third.
That kind of forward pressure led to a couple breakouts going the other way for Cleveland, but the Grant backline always got back and kept the shot attempts to a minimum against Proctor.
“The defense is amazing, they got everything, I had to do almost nothing,” Proctor said while getting water splashed on him by teammates. “They did a fantastic job. Callum (Broadfoot) bossed the back line. It was a great performance by them and I want to credit our midfield and attack too. That second half, we absolutely dominated them.”
Proctor was correct in his analysis as the second half started to see more and more Grant attacks get close to scoring. One appeared to go in late in the second half of overtime on a throw-in, but the ball wasn’t touched on the pass in and was disallowed.
In PKs, Cleveland was up first and scored off the foot of senior defender Gibran Chavez-Nolasco. Grant senior forward Ewan Massimino was next and hit to tie at one.
In the second round, it appeared that Proctor made a save on Cleveland senior midfielder Cormac Alperin, but the line judge ruled that Proctor left the line early and Alperin hit on the second attempt.
Broadfoot was next for Grant and hit, followed by a goal from Cleveland senior forward Mosley Campbell to go up 3-2. Whitman and Schlitz traded misses and Grant senior midfielder Rowan Spain hit to tie at three after four rounds.
“We were just saying, ‘Stay calm,’” Hamilton said of the team talk after the miss. “Obviously Sam was a little distraught that he missed, but we all cheered him up. And all that sadness went away when we saw their player miss. It was very composed on the side, we were never frantic.”
Cleveland’s next four goals came from senior defender Cole Christensen, senior midfielder Julian Daniell, senior forward Max Morrison and senior midfielder Abe Frick.
Grant returned the favor with goals from senior midfielder Isaac Mautz, senior midfielder Jack Fullerton, senior defender Sawyer Brakken and sophomore midfielder William Neuner.
With each passing round of sudden death, Proctor tried to remain calm and wait for the time where he’d make the deciding play.
“It’s just the next one, it’s a routine,” Proctor said of his thought process. “I go through that every single time. We go top of the sixth, take the pen and if it doesn’t happen, you grab the ball and give it to your teammate and just keep going.”
“(Proctor) only had one real practice day, which was yesterday,” Grant head coach Erik Miller said. “We worked on helping him come out and control his box a bit better and he did that tonight. He really stepped up when the team needed him.”
Proctor made the save on Cleveland junior midfielder Clyde Mashburn and Hamilton hammered home the winner to get Grant back to the 6A title game after the Generals reached it last year.
Getting back to this stage hasn’t been easy as Grant had to take out another PIL foe in the quarterfinals 2-1 in No. 3 Lincoln, a team the Generals lost to 2-1 in the regular season.
Grant tied Cleveland 2-2 in the regular season, but this time it won in the brightest lights.
“Something we’ve talked about a lot this year is trust the process, control what we can, try to block out noise and most importantly have fun out there,” Miller said. “We spent a lot of time on the mental side of the game, which is the most important thing to handle these moments. For them to do that tonight gives them confidence going into the next round.”
That next round will be against No. 1 Jesuit at 6:30 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 14 inside Hillsboro Stadium for the state crown.
Grant made the state final last year, but fell to Beaverton 4-2 in PKs after being tied 1-1 through regulation and overtime.
With 15 returners from that team, the Generals don’t need a reminder of how much that loss stung. And with a PK winner on Tuesday, the Generals feel like they’re ready to complete the revenge tour and take home the program’s second-ever state title (the one crown coming in 2008).
“(Jesuit) is a very good team,” Proctor said. “We’re going to come in with the underdog mentality. It’s going to be: come in, we’re the underdogs, and we’re gonna fight for every single thing.
“You better be ready because we’re going to battle our butts off.”
More semifinals action
6A
No. 1 Jesuit 3, No. 4 Lakeridge 1: Jesuit is heading back to the 6A final after a year's absence thanks to a 3-1 win over Lakeridge. Once again, it was senior Vala Saghafi making things happen with an assist on a goal by senior Wesley Colling. Then it was Jet Perry to Saghafi for a goal and then Saghafi scored one unassisted to cap the victory. The finals appearance will be the Crusaders 23rd, tied for the most all-time with Catlin Gabel.
6A final: No. 1 Jesuit vs. No. 6 Grant, 6:30 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 14, Hillsboro Stadium
5A
No. 1 Summit 4, No. 5 Centennial 2: Summit and Centennial went back and forth in the first half, but it was the Storm emerging in the second 40 with the win. Junior Will Newton had two of the goals for Summit while Gabe Chauvin and Zach Bradley scored the other two to send their squad to the final for the first time since 2024 and seventh time overall.
No. 7 La Salle Prep 2, No. 3 Bend 1: The defending champions have become road warriors with a 2-1 win out east over Bend. Tim Scherler got the Falcons on the board first with a goal in the 37th minute off the assist from Hugo Cortes. Ben Costa got the Lava Bears on the board early in the second half when he converted on a penalty kick. However, in the 77th minute, La Salle Prep broke through for the game winner when Emmett Hoelscher headed one in at the back post off the corner kick from Cortes. The Falcons will go for their third consecutive state title and fourth in the past six seasons in their 18th state final appearance all-time.
5A final: No. 1 Summit vs. No. 7 La Salle Prep, 1 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 14, Hillsboro Stadium
4A
No. 1 Stayton 1, No. 4 Klamath Union 0: Defending champion Stayton got an early goal and rode it out to return to the 4A state title game with a 1-0 win over Klamath Union. Miguel Ceballos had the goal in the 20th minute while the back line held strong once again for its 12th shutout of the season and third this postseason. The Eagles have outscored their three playoff opponents 11-0 as they head to the program’s seventh final appearance.
No. 10 Marist Catholic 3, No. 14 Newport 1: The Cinderella run for Marist Catholic is bound for Liberty HS after a 3-1 win over Newport. Luca Rushton scored twice for the Spartans while Hudson Cheeseman had the assists on both goals and added his own goal unassisted for the 3-1 final. This will be Marist Catholic’s fourth state final appearance all time but the first since 2001 in 3A/2A/1A.
4A final: No. 1 Stayton vs. No. 10 Marist Catholic, 10:30 a.m. Saturday, Nov. 14, Liberty High School (Hillsboro)
3A
No. 1 Catlin Gabel 8, No. 4 Westside Christian 0: Catlin Gabel routed league foe Westside Christian to return to the state final for the 23rd time in program history. Ben Solondz scored early and Mason Campbell added on a few moments later to make it 2-0 CG within the first 10 minutes. The final appearance keeps CG tied with Jesuit for the most in state history.
No. 2 St. Mary’s Medford 6, No. 3 Dayton 1: Angelo Sanchez and Sawyer Baker each scored twice to help lift St. Mary’s Medford to the title match over Dayton. It’ll be the sixth time the Crusaders play for the state crown, breaking a 13-year drought as the last appearance came in 2013.
3A final: No. 1 Catlin Gabel vs. No. 2 St. Mary’s Medford, 6:30 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 14, Liberty High School (Hillsboro)
2A/1A
No. 1 Grand View Christian 5, No. 4 Pacific 1: Grand View Christian is heading to the state final, a first for the school across any team sport. The Eagles have never won a state title and have no individual sport crowns either, meaning this could be the school’s first gold medal ever.
No. 2 CS Lewis Academy 2, No. 3 Crosshill Christian 0: CS Lewis Academy will play for the school’s first-ever team title after taking down Crosshill Christian. Eli Keyser got the scoring started in the 26th minute with a tap-in goal off a corner kick by Luke Owen. In the 73rd minute, Keyser scored again, this one unassisted, to put the match on ice and send the Watchmen to their first-ever final in the 2A/1A classification. The only state titles in school history belong to two boys track individual event wins.
2A/1A final: No. 1 Grand View Christian vs. No. 2 CS Lewis Academy, 7 p.m. Friday, Nov. 13, Liberty High School (Hillsboro)
austinw@osaa.org
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