HILLSBORO – The alarm went off in the 73rd minute, and Will Newton answered the call.
Top-seeded Summit was closing in on a victory over No. 7 La Salle Prep in the OSAA/OnPoint Community Credit Union 5A boys soccer final Saturday before yielding the equalizer with 7:46 left on the clock.
The Falcons pushed hard to take the lead, but that's when Newton, the Storm's explosive junior striker, sprung into action. He drilled a left-footer into the upper left corner from about 30 yards out in the 76th minute, then added another goal in the 77th minute, to lift his team to a 3-1 victory at Hillsboro Stadium.
“They had a little bit of momentum for a while, and they got their goal that was leading up to it,” Newton said. “I think the next goal is the most important thing, and flipping the game around. And that's what we did.”
Newton, the Intermountain Conference player of the year, finished the season with 36 goals. He scored in all four playoff matches for Summit (17-1-1).
“Will Newton is a superstar,” Storm coach Tom Bunnell said. “Will's amazing. We had said to him, 'It's going to come, stay with it, relax.'
“He scored an amazing cracker there. And then for him to get another is classic Will. He's got an incredible knack for finishing, obviously.”
The title is especially meaningful for Newton and the Storm considering they lost to La Salle Prep 2-1 in the 2024 final. That loss – in which the Falcons came from behind in the second half on two penalty kicks – has festered for Summit.
“So much,” Newton said. “We knew they were going in looking to three-peat, and we lost last time. I think that's what pushed us so hard to win this game.”
Bunnell concurred.
“That's super fun. That's something we wanted,” he said. “They were going for three in a row, and we were part of that whole debacle.”
The title is the fourth for Summit. The last one came in 2023 in the Storm's first season under Bunnell, who came to the Bend school after winning five Washington girls titles in 14 seasons at Issaquah (2004-17).
“For me, the seventh one is as sweet as the first,” Bunnell said. “It's two here now, which is really cool.”
La Salle Prep (12-6-1) came up short in its bid to three-peat and capture its 10th state championship. The Falcons struggled to attack for most of the match – getting outshot 11-6 – but after junior Henry Roy scored to tie the match at 1-1, they got a jolt of energy.
“We were a bit lethargic throughout the game, relative to how we normally play,” said La Salle Prep coach Monty Hawkins, whose team was coming off long playoff road trips to Ashland and Bend. “You could tell our tank was on empty after all these games. And we found a reserve, and we got the goal.”
After the goal, the Falcons turned up the pressure on Summit, but it backfired.
“We were trying to put ourselves in position to win in regulation,” Hawkins said. “We paid the price on the counter, and they got their goal.”
Down 2-1 after Newton's first goal, the Falcons weren't done yet. But Newton provided the clincher moments later by making a run up the left side and driving home a 15-foot shot.
“I think a game's not over until it hits zero,” Newton said. “I don't really feel like there's a cushion when there's just one goal. Anything could happen. Just getting that next one is the most important thing.”
The goal helped calm Bunnell's nerves.
“In these games, when someone gets one like that, I feel like the mayhem starts,” Bunnell said. “I was worried that it was going to get sloppy.”
Summit's first goal came in the 44th minute. Newton's free kick from just outside the box deflected off a wall of defenders and high into the air, and senior Quentin Swanston headed it into the goal.
jerryu@osaa.org
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