HILLSBORO – No. 10 Marist Catholic boys soccer only had four shots in the OSAA/OnPoint Community Credit Union 4A state championship game Saturday at Liberty High School.
But that was two more than the Spartans needed.
After scoring in the eighth minute on their first shot of the game, the Spartans dug in on defense and survived 28 shot attempts from No. 1 Stayton to take home the 2-1 win and the program’s third state title, first since 1997.
Sophomore Caleb Hirons scored on a header in the eighth minute, and sophomore goalkeeper Nelson Holland-Bak came up with nine saves, plus help from the back line, to sneak out with the 2-1 win despite a 28-4 shot disadvantage.
“It’s amazing, I can’t believe it, I’ve been working for this my whole life, the whole team has,” Marist Catholic senior Evan Coffman said. “We knew we could do it, we’ve been doubted for a long time. It just means a lot to prove to everyone that we can do what we knew we could do to win.”
“They’re very dedicated and we work so hard and we work together well, so I’m really proud of them,” Holland-Bak said of his defensive teammates. “When someone makes a mistake, someone has their back and we all just improve from there.”
The Spartans needed a Cinderella run to even make the title game, taking out No. 7 Cascade in the first round on penalty kicks, followed by a 1-0 win in overtime over No. 2 Valley Catholic.
Marist Catholic hosted the semifinal match against No. 14 Newport and took that 3-1 to earn its first state title game spot since 2001.
Now, those Spartans are state champions after pulling off a third upset in four matches.
“Coming into the season, I knew we could do it, we had the talent, we had the seniors and the skeleton of the team to do it,” Marist Catholic head coach Jonathan Fechtel said. “We started believing (after we beat Valley Catholic) and seeing we can score and do these things.”
“We knew we shouldn’t have been a 10 seed and we knew we had the skill to beat anyone,” Coffman said. “After beating Cascade, a top team, in the first round, we knew anyone was beatable and we didn’t care what our seed was, we didn’t care who we were playing, we just knew we could win every game.”
Marist Catholic didn’t start out looking like an underdog as the Spartans took early control of the match in the eighth minute.
Senior Isaac Atkerson chipped a ball toward the goal after he got into the near-side of the box. It floated perfectly to Hirons next to the far-side post and he headed it forward past Stayton senior goalkeeper Logan Butenschoen, who had come out to try and stop the floater, quickly making it 1-0 Marist.
“To do it in a way that we’ve asked them to do it all year, in terms of driving baseline, getting a service into the middle and finishing, they did it 100 percent right,” Fechtel said. “Nerve-killer, it was brilliant."
The Eagles tightened up from there and dominated possession for the rest of the first half, getting nine more shots off after the Marist goal, two on goal, and the Spartans didn’t get another chance on offense in the final 32 minutes.
While those shots may have been firing from Stayton, none were much of a threat as the Spartans back line consistently did a good job of either blocking a path toward the net or pushing the Eagles attackers to tough angles.
However, none of those shots fell for Stayton and Marist Catholic hung on to its 1-0 lead going into halftime. Stayton held a 10-1 shot advantage with three corner kicks to the Spartans’ zero.
“As the first half was winding down, we couldn’t stop anything on defense because a one-goal lead can change to a no-goal lead in a matter of 30 seconds or less,” Holland-Bak said. “We had to keep going 100 percent.”
In the second half, it was more of the same as the Eagles continued to win the ball and keep it in the Marist Catholic zone.
Stayton had its best look of the match up to that point come in the 54th minute when senior Josiah Dessieux snuck by his defender in the box and only had Holland-Bak in front of him, but the save was made on a drop-kick block to preserve the 1-0 Marist lead.
Stayton got another great look in the 60th minute when a ball into the box went through the hands of Holland-Bak and senior Noah Klampe was there to win for the Eagles with the keeper out of position.
Marist Catholic defenders fell back toward the net as Klampe passed it to junior Bryan Navarro who had his shot blocked by a defender, then senior Edwyn Perez sailed his rebound attempt over the net.
“Credit to Stayton, they knew how to attack and were really, really well organized and ready to play,” Fechtel said. “The conversation with the defenders today was to dig in, find those opportunities to win, do the little things right and every single one of them, amazing work to hold Stayton goalless for 79 minutes in a state final.”
Things got squirrely in the final couple of minutes with Stayton pushing forward to try and find the equalizer.
A ball sent back by the Spartans was misplayed and Coffman was there to gain possession of the ball with the Stayton keeper all the way out of net.
Butenschoen scrambled back to take away the near-side of the net, but Coffman fired a wormburner to the opposite side for a goal and a 2-0 lead with just over a minute to play.
“I knew they moved to a three-back near the end and they were going to have some weakness at the back, and I saw he made a mistake and I knew I had to capitalize,” Coffman said of the goal. “It’s unbelievable, I can’t describe it. It’s a feeling I don’t know if I’ll ever be able to recreate.”
"(Coffman) has that it-factor of motivating these boys and getting them ready to compete," Fechtel said. "Heart is all there for him. He cares so much for these boys. To (score) in such a beautiful way and to own that moment, he's on the ball, he finishes from outside the 18, just amazing."
Stayton finally broke through 14 seconds later when Dessieux scored off an assist from Miguel Ceballos, but with only 53 seconds to go, it was too little, too late for the defending champions.
Marist Catholic withstood the final minute and celebrated with a bench clearing toward the student section in the 2-1 victory.
“In the second half, after they scored that late goal, I had to talk to my center backs and outside backs and say, ‘We gotta go 100 percent for the next 50 seconds,’” Holland-Bak said. “It was pretty stressful, but we never let up, so I’m pretty proud of my team.”
austinw@osaa.org
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